IOWA CITY, Iowa, January 23, 2009 (ENS) - The first study documenting methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in swine and swine workers in the United States has been published by University of Iowa researchers.
The investigators found a strain of MRSA, known as ST398, in a swine production system in the Midwest, according to research published today by the science journal "PLoS One."
"Our results show that colonization of swine by MRSA was very common in one of two corporate swine production systems we studied," said Dr. Tara Smith, an associate professor of epidemiology in the University of Iowa College of Public Health and lead author of the study.
"Because ST398 was found in both animals and humans, it suggests transmission between the two," she said.
"Our findings also suggest that once MRSA is introduced, it may spread broadly among both swine and their caretakers. Agricultural animals could become an important reservoir for this bacterium," Smith warned.
Staphylococcus aureus, often called staph, are bacteria commonly carried on the skin or in the nose of healthy people. MRSA is a type of staph that is resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it.
A recent study estimated that MRSA caused 94,000 infections in humans and more than 18,000 deaths in the United States in 2005.
Most MRSA infections occur in hospitals or other health care settings, such as nursing homes and dialysis centers, according to the Mayo Clinic. Older adults and people with weakened immune systems are at most risk. More recently, another type of MRSA has occurred among otherwise healthy people in the wider community. This form, community-associated MRSA, is responsible for serious skin and soft tissue infections and for a serious form of pneumonia.
Full story: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2009/2009-01-23-095.asp
