Bacteria has the ability to jump between species more easily than previously thought, scientists have found.

The findings have "major implications" for how the risk of bacterial diseases passing between humans and animals is assessed, experts said.

The research was carried out by scientists at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh who studied a strain of bacteria which had been passed from humans to rabbits.

Although it was well known that viruses such as flu could be transmitted from one species to another, it was thought the process was far more complicated for bacteria.

Researchers studied a strain of bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus ST121, which is found in the respiratory tract and on the skin of some people.

It is usually harmless but can cause a variety of conditions from minor skin infections to meningitis and sepsis.

But in rabbits, the bacteria can cause serious skin infections and is responsible for spreading disease epidemics within the rabbit farming industry.

Researchers concluded that ST121 most likely evolved through a host jump from humans to rabbits around 40 years ago, which was caused by a genetic mutation at a single site in the bacterial DNA code.

They said the discovery transformed their "understanding of the minimal genetic changes that are required for bacteria to infect different species".

Professor Jose Penades, of the Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Glasgow, who co-led the study, said the findings should be of "major concern to veterinary and public health professionals".

"Our results represent a paradigm shift in understanding of the minimal adaptions required for a bacterium to overcome species barriers and establish in new host populations," he added.

Professor Ross Fitzgerald, from the University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute, who also co-led the study, said: "Domestication of animals, industrialisation of agriculture and globalisation have provided new opportunities for the transmission of bacteria between humans and animals.

"This latest research has important public and veterinary health implications which will require a re-examination of the future threat posed by bacterial host switching events."