THE use of a common prescription antibiotic in salmon farming may put

people at risk by spreading resistance through the food chain, according

to the findings of a group of scientists from the University of

Edinburgh Medical School.

Ms Michelle Hays, a medical microbiologist, told a conference in

London at the weekend that fish farmers use amoxycillin -- a common

antibiotic used by doctors to treat human infection -- to protect salmon

against the bacteria Acromonas Salmonicida, which causes a fatal fish

disease called furuncolosis.

However, the researchers say the doses used by the farmers are too low

and the bacteria are learning how to protect themselves. This means

resistant fish bacteria could pass on their genetic message

to human bacteria through the food chain.