Day 105 - 16 Mar 95 - Page 09
1
2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can you help me on one thing? As
3 I understand, I think, from something Professor Jackson
4 said, something like E.coli 0157: H7 may be discovered for
5 the first time does not mean to say that because someone is
6 ill in Michigan in 1982 or Preston in 1991, that people
7 have known of E.coli and E.coli which has been given that
8 number before, say, 1982?
9 A. Yes. Microbiology is continually increasing its
10 capacity to discover new organisms.
11
12 Q. That is my next point. It may be a completely new
13 organism, it may be something which has been created by
14 "mutation" -- that was the word that Professor Jackson
15 used?
16 A. Yes, that is certainly true.
17
18 Q. So, it may not been be a question of having been there for
19 decades but not identified; it may, in fact, be new?
20 A. That is entirely possible.
21
22 Q. A new creature, is that right, or -----
23 A. Yes, each species of bacteria does adapt itself. It is
24 an extremely simple life form, as I have no doubt you have
25 heard. It is taken as the basis of life and it is shifting
26 continually.
27
28 Q. I am no microbiologist, which is why I am asking the
29 questions. Does it follow from that, whether or not it is
30 relevant to any particular organism in this case, that a
31 pathogenic micro organism may appear, cause problems, and
32 then disappear because it dies out, it does not survive for
33 whatever reason; is that possible?
34 A. That is possible. It is true that various micro
35 organisms decline in their effect on the population, as far
36 as food poisoning is concerned, because they do literally
37 either weaken or disappear altogether.
38
39 The opposite is true, of course, that a new strain can, in
40 fact, appear. If it happens to be a pathogenic strain,
41 which again is well-known in microbiological circles,
42 pathogens are extremely small percentages of the overall
43 pattern of bacterial growth but, nonetheless, if a
44 pathogenic strain does appear, mutate into a form that
45 becomes pathogenic, yes, that is a first time event in that
46 particular strain of bacteria.
47
48 MR. MORRIS: E.coli is still very difficult to detect, is it
49 not?
50 A. The microbiologists can detect it by the methodology
51 that they have.
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: When you say "E.coli" you mean the 0157, do
54 you?
55
56 MR. MORRIS: Yes, if I say "E.coli" I mean 0157.
57
58 (To the witness) That is still very difficult to detect?
59 A. I am not competent to answer that in terms of
60 laboratory techniques. I know that there is a particular
