Fast jede fünfte Harnwegsinfektion ist auf kontaminiertes Fleisch zurückzuführen. Da Harnwegsinfekte so häufig auftreten und vor allem Frauen und ältere Menschen betreffen, stellen sie eine enorme Belastung für die Gesundheitssysteme und die Produktivität dar und kosten in den USA jedes Jahr Milliarden
https://publichealth.gwu.edu/nearly-1-5-urinary-tract-infections-linked-contaminated-meat
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A new study estimates that nearly one in five urinary tract infections in Southern California may be caused by E. coli strains transmitted through contaminated meat – and pose a hidden foodborne risk to millions of people not just in California but across the US. The research, published in mBio, also found that people living in low-income neighborhoods are at the greatest risk.
“Urinary tract infections have long been considered a personal health issue, but our findings suggest that they are also a food safety problem,” said Lance B. Price, senior author of the study and professor of environmental and occupational health at the George Washington University.
“This opens up new avenues for prevention, especially for vulnerable communities that bear a disproportionate burden. This is why we should be investing more, not less, in research about the social determinants of health. Your risk of infection should not depend on your ZIP code.” Price is also the founding director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health.
UTIs are among the most common infections worldwide, disproportionately affecting women and the elderly. They cost billions annually in medical care and lost productivity. E. coli, the leading cause of UTIs, is also a common contaminant in raw poultry and meat – but until now, it’s been difficult to estimate how often foodborne strains cause infections in people.
To bridge this gap, researchers at GW and Kaiser Permanente Southern California collected over 5,700 E. coli isolates from patients with UTIs and retail meat samples from the same neighborhoods. They used a new genomic modeling approach to estimate whether each bacterial strain likely originated in humans or animals.
Key Findings:
18% of UTIs in the study population were linked to E. coli strains of animal origin, which are known as foodborne UTIs.
The highest-risk strains were most often found in chicken and turkey.
People living in low-income areas had a 60% higher risk of foodborne UTIs compared to those in wealthier neighborhoods.
Women and older men were especially vulnerable.
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.01428-25
Mmmmmm, if dead bird germs are ending up places the sun doesn’t shine, that still sounds like a personal hygiene issue, just not the one originally assumed.
Remember to always immediately wash your hands after handling raw meat.
I’m assuming the issue is ultimately more about food handling practices in general? As in it’s more about how uncooked meat is being handled than the eating necessarily..
When it comes to elderly women the UTI can be severely debilitating. During my mothers final years before passing I was her caregiver during covid. She developed an infection and started hallucinating from it. She seemed perfectly normal but swore there were people living in her house uninvited.
caused by meat alright.
Really, how is it a food safety issue? It is not possible that these infections are caused by eating the cooked meat, only by mishandling meat, which makes it squarely a personal hygiene problem.
? How? Goes through the GI tract then how does it get to the urinary system?
If only there was an alternative to meat people could eat. Such a shame
Had no idea, i’m gonna cook the meat to higher temperature from now on. and i will wash the meat thoroughly before cooking it.
Maybe I’m missing something but if they are identifying it as coming from certain animals (excrement presumably) isnt it just as likely if not more likely that the contamination is contaminated vegetables?
And the meat is contaminated because of industrial farming and weakened regulations that basically rely on “we hope no bacteria get here or that we’ll wash them off” approach. And with gutting of regulatory bodies, it’s only going to get worse.
Medium rare chicken has its drawbacks.