Trial Begins For Cattle Vaccine
US - New vaccines which make cattle immune to a dangerous form of the E.coli bacteria are being tested around the country.
7 December 2009
1 minute read
The vaccines, which are currently undergoing large-scale trials after decades of bureaucratic delays, make cattle immune to the strain of E.Coli, which according to The New York Times, kills dozens and makes thousands of Americans ill every year. Scientists believe the combination of vaccination and slaughterhouse safeguards can prevent the surge in E. Coli cases that happen every summer.
Federal agencies relaxed regulations to allow the vaccines to be tested after a string of large-scale beef recalls, and more food-related vaccines may follow if the cattle trials are successful.
Scientists are fairly sure that these vaccines on their own, will not wipe out the dangerous strain of E. coli known as O157:H7. But if they prove effective, they could significantly reduce the amount of harmful bacteria that cattle carry into slaughterhouses, which means that safeguards already in place there would have a greater chance of eliminating the remaining germs from the beef supply.
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