Farmers Carry Multidrug-Resistant Staph For Weeks Into Local Communities

An anonymous reader writes: Fresh research out of the UNC Gillings and JHU Bloomberg schools of public health shows industrial farm workers are carrying livestock-associated, multidrug-resistant staph into local communities for weeks at a time. "Among the [22 people tested], 10 workers carried antibiotic-resistant strains of the bacteria in their noses for up to four days. Another six workers were intermittent carriers of the bacteria. The 10 workers found to carry the bacteria persistently had strains associated with livestock that were resistant to multiple drugs, and one also carried MRSA. Three more of the workers tested positive for strains of S. aureus that were not resistant to antibiotics. So in total, 86 percent of the workers in the study carried the S. aureus bacteria, compared with about one-third of the population at large, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." This problem has grown since its last mention on Slashdot. Unfortunately, massive industrial lobbying continues to neuter government action.

Comments

Natural immunity

[BitZtream]

Good, this indicates that doctors and people who think they should take antibiotics like vitamins haven't completely screwed up our natural immunities and that most of the world still fights off this infections even though drugs no longer work on them.

Can we please get back to the point where we take antibiotics when we're in need of them, not just because we might have an infection or have a mild infection?

I'm all for taking them in the cases where it will be life threatening not to, but FFS not just because we're sick. We're making all of these things capable of fighting off the drugs and getting ourselves to the point where first world countries with antibiotics are going to be less safe than 3rd world shit holes where the people at least have functional immune systems that can fight off what they see in their environment.

We have survived for hundreds of thousands of years without taking daily antibiotic doses, why do some people and worse still some doctors think we should take them like candy now when someone gets the sniffles.

Re:Natural immunity

[Anonymous Coward]

The widespread use of antibiotics for every little thing has largely been eliminated in the medical community. The problem these days is farmers overusing them on animals. And by overuse I mean "routinely give whether it is necessary or not." THIS is what is producing antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, and THIS is what will create the next pandemic.

Re:Natural immunity

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure a billion other people will reply with the same comment as me - the problem isn't doctors over proscribing antibiotics. Its the widespread abuse of antibiotics by livestock farmers. Its cheaper to toss antibiotics in the food for all the cattle, pigs, etc than it is to deal with problems caused by infections. These are the fertile breading grounds for resistance.

Don't get me wrong, we overuse antibiotics in the treatment of humans, and for some reason think that soap and other products need antibiotics in them but that is a very small piece of the problem.

Re:Natural immunity

[Anonymous Coward]

As a Doctor, I will agree. As a business man (who must run practice), I say this:

1. Pay me when you are well.
2. Don't expect a free diagnosis.
3. Visit me when your healthy so I can have a baseline to go from.
4. Don't take your medications until you feel better, and then stop.
5. Don't ask for medications. Yes, I have heard of the ones you want. I think I can figure out when to dispense it.
6. Get the meds I tell you to take.
7. If you are going to get a second opinion, just tell me - and have those records sent to my office.

Re:Natural immunity

[Firethorn]

Its cheaper to toss antibiotics in the food for all the cattle, pigs, etc than it is to deal with problems caused by infections. These are the fertile breading grounds for resistance.

It not only prevents infections, it also increases growth. However it's far from the only source of antibiotic resistant bacteria because there's plenty of bacterias out there that are resistant to antibiotics that have NEVER been fed to animals.

We're willing to give expensive antibiotics to humans, if I remember right, there's only 3 major antibiotics given to cattle. If you're infected with a disease resistant to something not on that list, it probably didn't get that resistance from cattle.

Re:Natural immunity

[angel'o'sphere]

No the asshat is you and our parent.
If gut bacterias are killed, and the food is not "processed" you can not become fat. Nor does a cow. Super simple. You can only become fat from food that _actually is processed_
Hence the claim low level antibiotics would kill gut bacterias in a way that you end up fat is scientific utter nonsense.

When self interest supersedes the common good....

[felixrising]

Tragedy of the commons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

Re:When self interest supersedes the common good..

[gweihir]

Indeed. Or restated in simpler form: A community that does not keep its egoistic idiots under control, eventually collapses. That seems to be the primary problem of the human race at this time.