News 
MRSA found in many Belgian pig farms// 28 Sep 2007
http://tinyurl.com/ys8oxm
A recent survey in Belgium has shown that the bacteria
Methilin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) has been isolated in
68% of the pig farms. In 37% of the cases, the farmer and his
relatives also carried pig MRSA.

  
This pig MRSA, a variant of the human MRSA, has also been found in
several other countries including Austria, Canada, Denmark, France,
Germany and Hungary. 


Transmission
Both in production animals and in humans. It is assumed that this
bacteria is transmitted from animals to humans. Further studies are
underway in several countries, but it seems likely that MRSA is
widespread in the pig and cattle populations. 


This strain is mainly found to colonise animals, but has in a few
cases been found to cause infections. 


The limited number of reports is probably due to the difficulties in
isolating this bacteria from animals because this requires selective
enrichment media. It can be expected that several new reports will be
published in the near future. 


Dutch hospitals
This MRSA variant came to light in October 2003, when Dutch hospital
officials detected MRSA in a young girl with no obvious risk factors
for the disease. 


When they tested her father – a pig farmer – and the farm workers,
they all showed to carry MRSA. When the tests were extended to the
pigs on the farm, they too were positive. In the meanwhile
slaughterhouse workers and large-animal vets have also tested positive
for the pig-associated MRSA.


Consternation
The presence of MRSA in their pig herd already caused much
consternation in the Netherlands. It is not so much for the pigs,
where S. aureus is not associated with a specific disease problem, but
for the humans in contact with pigs and other farm animals that might
carry the infection into hospitals, where the major problem lies. 


The reason for the colonisation of MRSA in pigs and other production
animals is currently not known. It is possible it may be associated
with the use of cephalosporins and other antibiotics in the feed.
Further studies however are carried out to investigate this.