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Thursday 28 July 2011

MRSA st398 - Pigs - a reservoir for people and poultry

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Belgians publishing research that would have been done in Britain but for the fact that Britain's useless government vets can't find any livestock with MRSA st398 to test.

It would be pointless looking because they have decided that Britain's healthy pigs do not have MRSA.

It's an argument that pleases them. We will see how they get on in court when the British Government faces massive claims for compensation after eleven years of veterinary deceit.

It will be interesting to see how they explain why British pork productivity per pig is about 25 percent lower than Belgium's.

If the Belgian pigs have MRSA, something that has been admitted for years, and yet produce much more pork, imagine the real situation in Britain.

Anyway, the dangers of maintaining a reservoir of MRSA infected pigs to man and other species neatly exposed by the capable Belgians.

Full extract here

Infect Genet Evol. 2011 Jul 18. [Epub ahead of print]

Screening of poultry-pig farms for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Sampling methodology and within herd prevalence in broiler flocks and pigs.

Source

Catholic University College South-West-Flanders (KATHO), Department HIVB, Wilgenstraat 32, 8800 Roeselare, Belgium; Catholic University Leuven, Department of Biosystems, Division of Gene Technology, Kasteelpark Arenberg 30 - bus 2456, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium.

Abstract

Many reports described the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in different livestock animals from one-species farms. However, in no published reports the prevalence on mixed poultry-pig farms was mentioned, nor the possible relation in MRSA colonization between those two species on one farm, and the possible role of the farmer in the dissemination of MRSA between those two species. Furthermore, no data is available on the optimal sampling site to detect MRSA in broilers. Therefore this study aimed to determine the most suitable sample location in broiler chickens for MRSA and within the flock prevalence of MRSA in various broiler flocks and compared this with the MRSA prevalence in pigs, the colonization of the farmer and the contamination in the barn environment in three mixed poultry-pig farms...

...A rather low within flock prevalence of MRSA varying between 0% and 28% was detected in broilers, whereas in pigs on the same farms the within herd prevalence varied between 82% and 92%. No MRSA contamination in the direct barn environment of the broilers was found, this in contrast to the environment of the pigs, indicating a relationship between MRSA prevalence and contamination in the environment.

Two farmers were continuously colonized, while the third one was only once. In conclusion, a major difference was seen in MRSA occurrence between broilers and pigs from the same farm...

... The farmer may play an important role in the dissemination of MRSA from pigs to poultry, especially in mixed farms where pigs are highly colonized and may act as a reservoir for MRSA ST398 carriage in humans.