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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.
The sad thing is that nowadays if you have the sniffles you can't get antibiotics without going to a doctor, and yet if your pet guppy isn't looking so good you can get some for your aquarium. And farmers seem to think antibiotic is an essential nutrient, no problem so long as it's not for humans! But try to get some for yourself and you'll get the lecture about antibiotic resistance. Unless it's for your soap.
On the other hand, at least they have a few antibiotics reserved for humans in real trouble, but on the other hand antibiotics everywhere breed antibiotic resistant bacteria, and many of the mechanisms bacteria use for antibiotic resistance give them total or partial immunity to other antibiotics.
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Ah blame the migrant. Neat trick you did there. Almost all livestock in the US are fed low dose antiboitics throughout their life. This isn't to keep them healthy, it's to provide weight gain.
Almost every chunk of meat you buy in the US contains antibiotics unless you intentionally exclude all but carefully labeled meat products. Animals being fed antibiotics excrete those antibiotics into the environment through their urine, feces and even through their skin. Being under constant exposure to environmental antibiotics through contact with waste products, the animals themselves and their feed which contains the antibiotics is no doubt going to lead to evolution of resistance in the bacteria inhabiting your body.
Lets play the game of most likely answer, that the migrants are taking over the counter antibiotics while they are outside the US when many never leave the US for any extended period. OR, that exposure to the environmental antibiotics used in animal production is what's causing it. If you think the most probable answer is the first as you suggested I can't help you.
I'm no doctor, and this is off-topic, so take this as you will. But I had the same type of situation, to many antibiotics for a sinus infection, resulted in a bunch of stomach problems - getting backed up all the time, allergic to wheat suddenly, all that. It took me about 4 years to really understand what happened, because doctors weren't able to do anything but tell me "You're allergic to wheat, go on a glutten-free diet."
What I did do eventually is go on a 5-day fast. I know it may sound crazy. But what happens is that all of the bacteria in your guts sorta goes away and you're left with a nice feeling. The most important factor in the whole fast, is breaking the fast. Introduce probiotics this way:
Drink kefir
eat raw fruit
drink vegetable broths
drink raw milk if you can find it - plain yogurt will do good too
There are other probiotics that you can find, check out what looks good to you. It's very important that you re-introduce food into your system slowly, or you're go into shock, or worse. After I did this, I have no more stomach problems, and no more wheat allergy. Of course you may want to consult a doctor before doing this.
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