New Avenue For MRSA 'Superbug': Pigs

smitty777 writes with news that researchers have discovered another way methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria are developing resistance to antibiotics. According to the study (abstract), the bacteria made the jump to pigs on livestock farms, developed greater resistance through the rounds of antibiotics commonly used to keep the pigs healthy, and then jumped back to humans. "The important development in the story of ST398 is its move back off the farm into humans, causing first asymptomatic carriage in that original family, and then illnesses in other Dutch residents, and then outbreaks in healthcare settings, and then movement across oceans, and then appearance in retail meat, and then infections in people who had no connection whatsoever to farming—all from an organism with a distinctive agricultural signature. That’s an important evolution, and an illustration once again that, as soon as resistance factors emerge, we really have no idea where they will spread. So it would be a good idea to take actions to keep them from emerging, or at the very least to implement surveillance that would allow us to identify them when they do."

Comments

Re:thanks meat eaters!

[ChromeAeonium]

pesticides, GMOs and processed foods

Processed foods I'll give you. People really should move back to whole foods, preferably vegetables, in place of highly processed grains and sugars. Pesticides have their place. There's a lot to be said for moving more toward IPM strategies than we currently have, sure, but they are a necessary evil. Heck, even plants produce their own pesticides. They don't make those secondary metabolites for the fun of it. And it's funny that you mention GE crops as a problem in the same sentence as pesticides, considering the effects they've had on pesticide usage. There's plenty of criticisms to make about how people eat and how food is grown. Processed foods are one. Monoculture & lack of biodiversity, over-fertilization & run-off, water scarcity & depleting aquifers, ect. would be much better practices to gripe about, and issues like peak phosphorus, declining agricultural research, and agriculture in the face of climatic issues are also worth considering. Pesticides and especially biotechnology (in and of themselves anyway) are not...not that pesticide use shouldn't be reduced where possible.

Re:thanks meat eaters!

[geekoid]

You can actually be a perfectly healthy vegetarian; but you need to be smart and knowledgable about your diet.

Jack la Lane was a vegetarian, and who could probably kick most people ass, and rarely got sick.
He was intelligent about how he ate, and he exercised every day.

Most vegetarians just eat anything as long as it's not meat,and don'r exercise.

Oh, he did start eating meat when he was around 65, or so. There wasn't any other way to get certain fats an elderly person needs. Once again, he was smart about his diet.

I am not a vegetarian, but I would like to see people pull back on meat portions. Cause there is a difference between eating meat, and eating a pound or more of meat a day.