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Friday 11 January 2013

MRSA, MSSA, Bacteria and Endotoxins in Pig Farms


Swiss research on the dangers of MRSA and MSSA from pig farms:

The last two sentences of this abstract sum it up. Unlike most countries, Britain’s corrupt government veterinarians have failed to warn its farmers, hospitals and public of known, widely and internationally acknowledged occupational and public health risks. 

In fact, they have done everything they could to suppress news of the risks, or the existence of diseases, on pig farms in Britain becoming public knowledge.

The damages payable to anyone suffering from these omissions and cover-ups are going to be eye-watering.

Abstract and access to full report here



Concentration of Airborne Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA and MSSA), Total Bacteria, and Endotoxins in Pig Farms

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·         Received November 6, 2012.
·         Accepted November 24, 2012.

Abstract

Pigs are very often colonized by Staphylococcus aureus and transmission of such pig-associated S. aureus to humans can cause serious medical, hygiene, and economic problems. The transmission route of zoonotic pathogens colonizing farm animals to humans is not well established and bioaerosols could play an important role. The aim of this study was to assess the potential occupational risk of working with S. aureus-colonized pigs in Switzerland. We estimated the airborne contamination by S. aureusin 37 pig farms (20 nursery and 17 fattening units; 25 in summer, 12 in winter). Quantification of total airborne bacterial DNA, airborneStaphylococcus sp. DNA, fungi, and airborne endotoxins was also performed. In this experiment, the presence of cultivable airborne methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) CC398 in a pig farm in Switzerland was reported for the first time. Airborne methicillin-sensitive S. aureus(MSSA) was found in ~30% of farms. The average airborne concentration of DNA copy number of total bacteria and Staphylococcus sp. measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction was very high, respectively reaching values of 75 (± 28) × 107 and 35 (± 9.8) × 105 copy numbers m–3 in summer and 96 (± 19) × 108 and 40 (± 12) × 106 copy numbers m–3 in winter. Total mean airborne concentrations of endotoxins (1298 units of endotoxin m–3) and fungi (5707 colony-forming units m–3) exceeded the Swiss recommended values and were higher in winter than in summer. In conclusion, Swiss pig farmers will have to tackle a new emerging occupational risk, which could also have a strong impact on public health. The need to inform pig farmers about biological occupational risks is therefore crucial.