Clostridium difficile in beef in Australia

Summary

The potential risk Clostridium difficile  - C. difficile - contamination poses for food-borne transmission is relatively unknown, with minimal research being conducted in the area.
C. difficile is the most commonly diagnosed cause of hospital acquired diarrhoea in developed countries and more cases are now occurring in people who have not been in hospital.
Concerns have been raised in recent years about the role that red meat animals and meat may play in transmitting this organism to humans.
Of great significance to MLA are two reports which show that C. difficile, including the epidemic ribotype 027, has been isolated from both calves and retail meat samples in Canada.
In order to get a better estimation of the risk in Australia, MLA conducted a study to determine the prevalence of C. difficile in cattle.
The results indicated that the overall prevalence of C. difficile in cattle is low - approximately two per cent - and that the types of C. difficile found do not cause disease in humans.  
There is a growing body of evidence that many neonatal or infant animals are colonized with C. difficile, including cattle.
Whether such colonisation continues beyond the infant period may well depend on exposure to antimicrobials.
The amplification of C. difficile in humans and animals is driven by antimicrobial use.
Australia's conservative policies thus far regarding fluoroquinolone use in humans and animals may offer us some protection against the epidemic strains of C. difficile circulating in North America and Europe.
Final reports Part 1 and Part 2 of this project are available to download.
Two further projects are currently underway in this area, one which focuses primarily on the prevalence of C. difficile in sheep and lamb and the other which focuses on calves. Both of these projects are scheduled to in June 2012.