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Articles in this document:
· Superbug found in pork products
· Pork Warning: MRSA Found On Supermarket Shelves
Superbug found in pork products
Samples test positive for antibiotic-resistant bacteria but researchers unsure of health fallout
Helen Branswell
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Mar 20, 2008 04:30 AM
The Toronto Star
Canadian researchers have found antibiotic-resistant Staph bacteria in pork products purchased in retail stores across the country – a discovery that raises questions about how the contamination occurred, how frequently it happens and whether it has implications for human health.
Just under 10 per cent of sampled pork chops and ground pork recently purchased in four provinces tested positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, lead researcher Dr. Scott Weese reported yesterday in a presentation to the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.
The bacteria would be destroyed by proper cooking, so Staph food poisoning is not a major concern, said Weese, an expert on zoonoses, the pathogens that pass back and forth between people and animals.
But he wondered whether people handling meat with MRSA on its surface would end up inadvertently "colonizing" themselves. People who carry the bacteria on their skin or in their nostrils are at greater risk of going on to develop a Staph infection, which can range from a hard-to-heal boil to pneumonia to a potentially deadly bloodstream infection.
"My main concern is: if there's MRSA on the surface of a pork chop and someone's handling it and then they touch their nose, could they transmit it from the pork chop to their nose?" noted Weese, a veterinarian based at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph.
Where MRSA infections were once acquired mainly in hospital, in recent years increasing rates of infections have been recorded in people who haven't been in hospitals and haven't been taking antibiotics.
The startling rise in so-called community acquired MRSA infections in the United States – a trend that is now being seen in parts of Canada – has led scientists to look for ways to explain the changing pattern of infections.
But Weese said it is too soon to conclude that MRSA in meat might be playing a role. "It's way too early to say that it does. But we have to look at whether it does."
"Basically my take-home message is I'm not going to stop eating pork because of this," he said.
This is the first confirmed report of MRSA in retail meat in North America and one of fewer than a handful of such reported findings in the world.
Weese's team looked for MRSA in pork meat after finding the superbug in Ontario pigs, which was reported last November in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
He admitted they currently don't know how much significance to place on the presence of the bacteria on the meat. Nor do the testing methods they used allow them to say if the meat was teeming with MRSA, or simply carrying small amounts of the bacteria.
To date Weese's team has tested 212 meat samples bought in four provinces. Most were pork chops but a few pork shoulder roasts and some ground pork were also tested.
None of the pork roasts carried the bacteria but an equal percentage of pork chops and ground pork did.
thstar.com
Pork Warning: MRSA Found On Supermarket Shelves
Wednesday March 19, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff - Canada
It's the first time something like this has ever happened: MRSA has been found lurking in supermarket pork in Canada.
It's believed to be the first time any supermarket meat in North America has been contaminated.
A Canadian team of researchers looked at off-the-shelf meat in four different provinces. Nearly 10 per cent of sampled pork products tested positive for the bug
The big danger of the little pest is that it's resistant to antibiotics. It's been a huge problem in hospitals: just a year ago, MRSA closed down a neonatal unit in Toronto.
"Those infections can range from, you know, a little bit of redness around a cut that you get to very severe infections that cause you to end up in the intensive care unit and even kill you," warned Dr. Allison McGeer, Infectious Disease Specialist at Mt. Sinai Hospital.
The recent study was led by Dr Scott Weese, a veterinarian based out of Guelph. He said that the bacteria are destroyed when the pork is cooked, so food poisoning is not a major problem.
He warns, though, that if the bug gets on your skin or in your nostrils, you could develop a potentially deadly infection.
"My main concern is: if there's MRSA on the surface of a pork chop and someone's handling it and then they touch their nose, could they transmit it from the pork chop to their nose?" noted Weese in an interview with the Canadian Press.
"If they do what they're supposed to do in terms of meat handling, then it should be perfectly safe. But do people do that is the question?"
There's no need to cut pork out completely.
"Basically my take-home message is I'm not going to stop eating pork because of this," he said. "I'm going to keep washing my hands and pay attention to how I handle it. And that's all I think I need to do."
MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. But what is that?
Why are they drug-resistant?
When should you seek treatment?
citynews.ca
· Superbug found in pork products
· Pork Warning: MRSA Found On Supermarket Shelves
Superbug found in pork products
Samples test positive for antibiotic-resistant bacteria but researchers unsure of health fallout
Helen Branswell
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Mar 20, 2008 04:30 AM
The Toronto Star
Canadian researchers have found antibiotic-resistant Staph bacteria in pork products purchased in retail stores across the country – a discovery that raises questions about how the contamination occurred, how frequently it happens and whether it has implications for human health.
Just under 10 per cent of sampled pork chops and ground pork recently purchased in four provinces tested positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, lead researcher Dr. Scott Weese reported yesterday in a presentation to the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.
The bacteria would be destroyed by proper cooking, so Staph food poisoning is not a major concern, said Weese, an expert on zoonoses, the pathogens that pass back and forth between people and animals.
But he wondered whether people handling meat with MRSA on its surface would end up inadvertently "colonizing" themselves. People who carry the bacteria on their skin or in their nostrils are at greater risk of going on to develop a Staph infection, which can range from a hard-to-heal boil to pneumonia to a potentially deadly bloodstream infection.
"My main concern is: if there's MRSA on the surface of a pork chop and someone's handling it and then they touch their nose, could they transmit it from the pork chop to their nose?" noted Weese, a veterinarian based at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph.
Where MRSA infections were once acquired mainly in hospital, in recent years increasing rates of infections have been recorded in people who haven't been in hospitals and haven't been taking antibiotics.
The startling rise in so-called community acquired MRSA infections in the United States – a trend that is now being seen in parts of Canada – has led scientists to look for ways to explain the changing pattern of infections.
But Weese said it is too soon to conclude that MRSA in meat might be playing a role. "It's way too early to say that it does. But we have to look at whether it does."
"Basically my take-home message is I'm not going to stop eating pork because of this," he said.
This is the first confirmed report of MRSA in retail meat in North America and one of fewer than a handful of such reported findings in the world.
Weese's team looked for MRSA in pork meat after finding the superbug in Ontario pigs, which was reported last November in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
He admitted they currently don't know how much significance to place on the presence of the bacteria on the meat. Nor do the testing methods they used allow them to say if the meat was teeming with MRSA, or simply carrying small amounts of the bacteria.
To date Weese's team has tested 212 meat samples bought in four provinces. Most were pork chops but a few pork shoulder roasts and some ground pork were also tested.
None of the pork roasts carried the bacteria but an equal percentage of pork chops and ground pork did.
thstar.com
Pork Warning: MRSA Found On Supermarket Shelves
Wednesday March 19, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff - Canada
It's the first time something like this has ever happened: MRSA has been found lurking in supermarket pork in Canada.
It's believed to be the first time any supermarket meat in North America has been contaminated.
A Canadian team of researchers looked at off-the-shelf meat in four different provinces. Nearly 10 per cent of sampled pork products tested positive for the bug
The big danger of the little pest is that it's resistant to antibiotics. It's been a huge problem in hospitals: just a year ago, MRSA closed down a neonatal unit in Toronto.
"Those infections can range from, you know, a little bit of redness around a cut that you get to very severe infections that cause you to end up in the intensive care unit and even kill you," warned Dr. Allison McGeer, Infectious Disease Specialist at Mt. Sinai Hospital.
The recent study was led by Dr Scott Weese, a veterinarian based out of Guelph. He said that the bacteria are destroyed when the pork is cooked, so food poisoning is not a major problem.
He warns, though, that if the bug gets on your skin or in your nostrils, you could develop a potentially deadly infection.
"My main concern is: if there's MRSA on the surface of a pork chop and someone's handling it and then they touch their nose, could they transmit it from the pork chop to their nose?" noted Weese in an interview with the Canadian Press.
"If they do what they're supposed to do in terms of meat handling, then it should be perfectly safe. But do people do that is the question?"
There's no need to cut pork out completely.
"Basically my take-home message is I'm not going to stop eating pork because of this," he said. "I'm going to keep washing my hands and pay attention to how I handle it. And that's all I think I need to do."
MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. But what is that?
Why are they drug-resistant?
When should you seek treatment?
citynews.ca
