MRSA in Pigs
June 11, 2008
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The cattlemen have had to grapple with Mad Cow for more than a decade. Now it looks like a far greater public health menace may already exist within America’s pork industry. Meet MRSA — methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — a nasty, antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria that appears widespread in North American hog farms. This past month, the bacteria was found in pigs at 70 percent of the hog farms tested in Iowa and Illinois.
This story is on the brink of being widely reported, and — mark my words — if it receives mainstream media coverage, America’s pork industry will go to hell in a handbasket. MRSA was associated with more than 18 thousand deaths in the United States in 2005. This lengthy article gives a solid background on MRSA, and why overuse of antibiotics by factory farms could be the pork industry’s downfall (thanks Bea and Marsha). Link.
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