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FSA WARNS 'SUPERBUG MRSA' IN FARM ANIMALS SPREAD TO HUMANS

flounder

Well-known member
Agency response to MRSA report
Monday 25 June 2007


The Food Standards Agency today reiterated advice on safe handling and cooking of meat for those worried by a report of a strain of 'superbug' MRSA in farm animals.

The Soil Association report highlights a new strain of the bacteria methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that has developed amongst intensively farmed pigs, chickens and other livestock, especially in the Netherlands, where it has spread to some farm workers and their families.

'The Agency is aware of this issue and we are keeping a watching brief on developments across Europe,' said Paul Cook of the Food Standards Agency Microbiological Safety Division. 'However, this is already being considered jointly by a number of Government agencies. Any possible emerging risk in the UK will be assessed, and appropriate action will be taken.

'We have only just received the report from the Soil Association, which we will examine in detail.'

None of the new strain of MRSA has been found in UK food-producing animals.

The Agency's advice on avoiding food poisoning bacteria applies equally to any strain of MRSA. Proper cooking will destroy MRSA. Guidance on the safe handling and cooking of food, especially meat, is available at the link below.

http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2007/jun/mrsa


MRSA in farm animals and meat
A new threat to human health


http://www.soilassociation.org/Web/SA/saweb.nsf/89d058cc4dbeb16d80256a73005a2866/5cae3a9c3b4da4b880257305002daadf/$FILE/MRSA%20report%20Summary.pdf


Full Text of report ;


http://www.soilassociation.org/Web/SA/saweb.nsf/89d058cc4dbeb16d80256a73005a2866/5cae3a9c3b4da4b880257305002daadf/$FILE/MRSA%20report.pdf



greetings,


This is very nasty stuff. Believe it or not, while on my third neck surgery, after a few extra precautions due to my mom having hvCJD (i banked my blood once, only use my bone for graph, no bank bone, and some extra precautions on bone grinder if i recall correctly, all for fear of CJD/TSE, and then damn near kill me with MRSA. 8 weeks vancomycin, two times a day, 1500 mgs, and a hole in my hip. so, this is why i keep up with the MRSA and now we have VRSA, which is vancomycin resistant. then your just sht out of luck, except for some experimental cocktail of sorts. this is why i have kept up with not only all the mad cow feed ban warning letters, but also all the warning letters for Edible Tissues/Adulterated where cattle are so sick when they go for slaughter, they are pumped up with all these antibiotics and hormones, and then one wonders why we have become resistant to some of these same type drugs, or why young adolescents have developed so. ....... fast, well, whatever. on a weekly basis you can go and read something like ;


On or about October 26, 2006, you sold a dairy cow, identified with Back Tag #[redacted] (possibly [redacted]), lot tag #[redacted], for slaughter as food at [redacted] in [redacted] slaughtered this cow on or about October 26. United States Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA/FSIS) analysis of tissue samples collected from this animal identified the presence of gentamicin in the liver and kidney tissues. The level of gentarnicin was not quantified. No tolerance has been established for residues of gentamicin in the edible tissues of cows as codified in Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (21 CFR), Part 556.300. The presence of gentamicin in edible tissues from this animal causes the food to be adulterated within the meaning of section 402(a)(2)(C)(ii) [21 U.S.C. § 342(a)(2)(C)(ii)].

On or about October 13, 2006, you sold a dairy cow, identified with Back Tag #[redacted], Lot Tag #[redacted], for slaughter as food at [redacted] slaughtered this cow on or about October 13. USDA/FSIS analysis of tissue samples collected from this animal identified the presence of penicillin at 18 ppm (parts per million) in the kidney tissue and at .12 ppm in the liver tissue. A tolerance of .05 ppm has been established for residues of penicillin in the edible tissues of cows as codified in 21 CFR 556.510. The presence of this drug in edible tissues from this animal causes the food to be adulterated within the meaning of section 402(a)(2)(C)(ii) [21 U.S.C. § 342(a)(2)(C)(ii)].


http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/s6389c.htm



unlike the TSE agent, it seems at least you can kill this deadly pathogen by cooking properly.
oh boy, that makes me feel better about the product.

how and why have we (supposedly the most intelligent species on earth) become so stupid $$$


TSS
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Supermarket meat 'could be MRSA infected'

Supermarket meat 'could be MRSA infected' - Telegraph - It would be advisable to read the whole article.

"Pork, beef and chicken in supermarkets could be infected with a strain of MRSA, according to a report today which warns that the issue could become "a new monster".

The bacterium is sweeping northern Europe and has already infected one in five of all pork products on sale in Holland, from where Britain imports almost two thirds of all its pork, the report claims.

The strain found in Holland, Denmark, Belgium and Germany is different from MRSA found in British hospitals, which was a contributory factor in 3,800 deaths in 2005.

However, the report claims that the bug found in European meat is just as deadly and infectious. It is resistant to tetracycline antibiotics, the most common drugs used to cure hospital MRSA.

So far no meat or farm animals in this country have been found to be infected with the European strain. However, no testing for the microbe in pork or chicken is done.

Only cattle are tested - the least likely animal to be infected - and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) does not test any imported meat.

The Government needs to start testing for the superbug in meat as a matter of urgency."This is the same bug in Eastern Canadian hospitals.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Canada: Five Years of National Surveillance.

SIMOR AE, OFNER-AGOSTINI M, BRYCE E, GREEN K, MCGEER A, MULVEY M, PATON S.

Abstr Intersci Conf Antimicrob Agents Chemother Intersci Conf Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2000 Sep 17-20; 40: 70.
Sunnybrook & Womens Coll. Health Sciences Ctr., North York, ON, Canada

BACKGROUND: To better understand the epidemiology of MRSA in Canadian hospitals, surveillance has been conducted in up to 35 sentinel hospitals across the country since 1995. We report the results of the first 5 years of MRSA surveillance.METHODS: For each in-patient with MRSA, medical records were reviewed for clinical and epidemiologic data. Isolates were submitted for susceptibility testing, mecA gene probing, and analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).RESULTS: A total of 4,502 new MRSA cases were identified between Jan. 1995-Dec. 1999.

The rate of MRSA increased each year from a mean of 0.5/100 S. aureus isolates in 1995 to 6.1/100 cases in 1999 (0.3/1000 admissions in 1995 to 4.3/1000 admissions in 1999). The occurrence of MRSA varied across the country: 26% were from western Canada, 70% from central Canada, and 4% from eastern Canada.

Most of the increase in MRSA occurred in Ontario and British Columbia. Of the 3,009 cases where the site of MRSA acquisition was known, 86% were acquired in a hospital, 8% were acquired in a long-term care facility, and 6% were community-acquired. A total of 1,595 (35%) patients were infected with MRSA; the most common sites of infection were skin/soft tissue (24%), surgical site (22%), and pulmonary (23%). 13% of patients were bacteremic.

An epidemiologic link with a previously identified MRSA patient was suspected in 54% of cases. Molecular typing demonstrated considerable genetic variability of MRSA, although the majority (70%) of isolates could be grouped into one of 4 PFGE patterns.

CONCLUSIONS: There has been a significant increase in MRSA isolation rates in many Canadian hospitals. This increase has been related to the transmission of a relatively small number of ``epidemic MRSA strains.KEYWORDS: MRSA; Staphylococcus aureus; Surveillance

Publication Types:
Meeting Abstracts
Keywords:
British Columbia
Canada
Disease Outbreaks
Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field
Humans
Infection Control
Ontario
Staphylococcal Infections
Staphylococcus aureus
epidemiology
Other ID:
GWAIDS0011490
UI: 102248988
From Meeting Abstracts
 
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