Washington, June 4 : A team of scientists has identified a new strain of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the milk of dairy cows, which is found in humans as well.

The methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has a genetic makeup quite different from previous strains identified.

"To find the same new strain in both humans and cows is certainly worrying. However, pasteurization of milk will prevent any risk of infection via the food chain," said Dr Laura Garcia-Alvarez, from University of Cambridge.

"Workers on dairy farms may be at higher risk of carrying MRSA, but we do not yet know if this translates into a higher risk of infection. In the wider UK community, less than 1% of individuals carry MRSA - typically in their noses - without becoming ill," she added.

During the genome process, the researchers found that the new strain possessed unconventional DNA for MRSA. It has a mecA gene but with only 60% similarity to the original mecA gene.

Unfortunately, this results in molecular tests (which identify MRSA by the presence of the mecA gene) giving a false negative for this strain of MRSA.

"Although there is circumstantial evidence that dairy cows are providing a reservoir of infection, it is still not known for certain if cows are infecting people, or people are infecting cows. This is one of the many things we will be looking into next," said Dr Mark Holmes, study leader at the University of Cambridge.

The research findings are published in the current issue of the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases. (ANI)