Day 104 - 15 Mar 95 - Page 57


     
     1        like the Public Health Laboratory Service?
     2        A.  I do follow them.
     3
     4   Q.   Are you aware of one that achieved some publicity last
     5        October in the national press -- I do not know exactly when
     6        it was produced -- and it was publicised in the issue of
     7        Communication of All Disease Report and it was an official
     8        report by the Public Health Laboratory Service and involved
     9        the drug resistant strain of Salmonella typhimurium DT104.
    10        Are you aware of that report?
    11        A.  Yes, I am.
    12
    13   Q.   In fact, the researchers concluded that:  "The routine use
    14        of antibiotics for growth promotion and sickness prevention
    15        in farm animals may contribute to the very development of
    16        organisms resistant to antibiotics"?
    17        A.  Yes.
    18
    19   Q.   And that the particular DT104 strain multiplied -- well,
    20        the number of cases reported had multiplied something like
    21        10 times in the last few years.  Are you aware of that?
    22        A.  Yes.
    23
    24   Q.   What was their concern?  Can you explain what their concern
    25        was?
    26        A.  What they said was that the emergence of that strain of
    27        organism showing resistance to antibiotics may have been
    28        due to the use of antibiotic compounds for animals.
    29
    30   Q.   And that the resistance may have been transferred to
    31        humans.   What was the concern about what had transferred
    32        to humans because it is quite complicated?
    33        A.  Yes, it is quite complicated and I can answer your
    34        questions.  I do not think it is appropriate for me give
    35        you a lecture on why it is important.
    36
    37   Q.   No I understand that, but just what their concern was?
    38
    39   MR. RAMPTON:  I am not sure, my Lord, it matters what their
    40        concern was unless some proposal is -----.
    41
    42   MR. MORRIS:  Mr. Pattison is an expert and he is aware of this
    43        report.
    44
    45   MR. RAMPTON:  So what?
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Ask him whether he has a concern by all
    48        means.
    49
    50   THE WITNESS:  To answer that question, obviously we would have a 
    51        concern about the possibilities of transferable drug 
    52        resistance which have been in medical reports now for the 
    53        last 20 years.  As each new strain of organism appears and
    54        disappears, the concern waxes and wanes, but there is a
    55        genuine concern and each individual incident obviously has
    56        to be followed through.
    57
    58   MR. MORRIS:  So there is an ongoing concern that the use of
    59        antibiotics in animal treatments or growth promotion may be
    60        transferring in some way to human ability to resist certain

Prev Next Index