Day 107 - 24 Mar 95 - Page 67
1 are spread different ways. These days, in recent history,
2 I suppose, about -----
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Did you mean him to stay on E.coli?
5
6 MR. RAMPTON: He is making an analogy, my Lord, I think.
7 A. I am creating a model and then assuming that
8 E.coli -----
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, when you said "a model" I thought you --
11 you carry on.
12
13 THE WITNESS: -- would form a similar pattern. So, that I am
14 saying there is a precedent set by salmonellas, and the
15 tendency, as I say, the last 30 years-ish is that strains
16 appear in various locations in the world, and within a few
17 decades you tend to find then their distribution
18 worldwide.
19
20 We have recent history of this, of course, with the
21 enteritidis which is now being observed in Australia. It
22 seemed -- I say "seemed" -- to have started in the United
23 States, came over to the UK, spread throughout mainland
24 Europe. It is now into Eastern Europe. As I say, it has
25 been identified isolated in Singapore and India and
26 Australia.
27
28 MR. RAMPTON: So that we may try to understand this as well as
29 we can, is it known or is it possible to identify the
30 vehicles or mechanisms by which that migration over a
31 period of decades may take place from one place to another?
32 A. There are different theories; some have been very well
33 documented, some have been by animal feed. There have some
34 of that instanced. Others, there is a suspicion it has
35 been humans, spread from humans into the animal community.
36 In some instances, there is good evidence of spread by
37 migrating birds.
38
39 Q. That might be particularly so, might it not, of salmonella
40 which is present in large quantities in wild birds, is it
41 not?
42 A. I think it is fair to assume in that salmonella and
43 E.coli are so closely related that a mechanism of
44 distribution which applied to salmonella could also apply
45 to E.coli 0157.
46
47 Q. Are they biologically related?
48 A. Yes, they are.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Are you going on to another topic,
51 Mr. Rampton? It is just that when you were looking at
52 tab 4, my eye fell on a reference to apart from gastric
53 acid being protective, intestinal flora being protected;
54 that is so, is it?
55 A. It seems to be, yes.
56
57 Q. So that is another protective mechanism within the body, is
58 it, intestinal flora?
59 A. I tend to believe that is the case. It is interesting
60 -- my Lord, you are probably be familiar -----
