Sheep carry a virus that targets the food-poisoning
bacteria E coli O157:H7, which could help
eliminate the germ in livestock and reduce the
possibility of human infection, a scientist at Evergreen
State College in Washington state says.
While most strains of E. coli are harmless,
the O157:H7 strain is particularly toxic and a major
cause of food poisoning. Three-quarters of human cases
can be traced directly to livestock, which don't become
ill from the bug, reports NewScientist.com.
When researcher Andrew Brabban went to test different
antibiotics to combat the bug in farm animals, he
noticed that in deliberately infected sheep, the germ
kept disappearing. Brabban says further research
indicated that not only does the helpful virus target
the germ, it also kills most of the toxic strains but
leaves most of the harmless ones alone, New
Scientist reports.
-- Scott Roberts and Robert Preidt
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