Pat's Note: Whilst I certainly do not approve of "blaming the Dutch"and the report has factual errors and repeats blatant lies, that does not matter.
Most of the errors can be corrected by reference to the newsgroup uk.business.agriculture and its archives.
It will not take long for Joe Public to wonder why Britain is refusing to test its pigs at the same time as blaming the Dutch.
It will take the Dutch even less time to start making formal complaints against the British Government.
Britain's bent vets are on their way to prosecution and prison.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/91887/Farm-bug-found-in-hospitals
FARM BUG FOUND IN HOSPITALS
BAD BACON: The MRSA found in Dutch pigs has infected farmers and others
Sunday March 29,2009
By Lucy Johnston and Martyn Halle
A DEADLY new form of MRSA is believed to be spreading from farm animals to humans - already the bacteria has been found in hospitals abroad.
It is the first time the bug has spread in this way and experts believe excessive use of antibiotics in factory-farmed animals may be behind its development.
"Farm animal" MRSA, as it is known, can cause a raft of illnesses including skin infections, pneumonia, bone infections and endocarditis.
The revelation raises fears about viruses and bugs moving from animals to humans in the way that Avian flu infected humans from poultry.
The new MRSA bug, known as ST398, could reach hospitals in the UK,causing serious illness and death among vulnerable patients.
The bug is not only in the animals but also in slaughtered meat.Scientists believe one way it could get into the UK is through contact with raw meat during food preparation.
ST398 was discovered in Holland when factory-farmed pigs passed it onto pig farmers. Now Government experts are carrying out tests to see if ST398 is in the UK's pig population.
Doctors in Holland also found it had spread to patients who had no contact with pig farming or farmers. In one area of Holland 60 percent of all MRSA cases are testing positive for the new strain.
Although ST398 has only recently been discovered it now causes almost one in three cases of MRSA treated in Dutch animal-to-human transmission have been found hospitals. Europe. And scientists have discovered the bug?Cases?of?throughout in other animals including beef cattle and factory-farmed chickens.
There are fears the bug may have already infected people in the UK although so far there have been no reports of it in UK hospitals.
Approximately 60 per cent of the pig meat eaten in the UK comes from the Netherlands and other countries. A Dutch Government study has found that about 10 per cent of slaughtered Dutch pork is contaminated with MRSA. The bug is caused by the over-use of antibiotics in intensive farming.The worry is that its over-use in animals could cause major problems for people.
Dr Mark Enwright, a consultant microbiologist at Imperial London,said: "The disturbing College leapt from animals into humans.?thing about this new strain is that it has "Because this is a new phenomenon we can't be sure how serious a problem it poses to humans. So we will have to be vigilant and hope it doesn't spread."
Around 60 per cent of all pigs in Holland are infected with ST398 and between 30 and 40 per cent of all pig farmers carry the bug - either on their skin or in their respiratory tract.
Most farmers are carriers of the bug and have no symptoms but they cans spread the bug to other people and can become infected themselves if they undergo surgery and the bug moves from their skin into a surgical wound.
Coilin Nunan, a spokesman for Soil Association, said: "It has probably got into the UK via raw pork or through our importation of Dutch bacon."
A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesman said:"We have carried out a study of our pig population and are awaiting the results."
-- Regards Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com and http://animal-epidemics.blogspot.com/
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
British Chief Medical Officer warns about antibiotic use in livestock
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Antibiotics-in-livestock-39threatens-humans39.5101083.jp
Antibiotics in livestock 'threatens humans'
Published Date: 24 March 2009
By Chris Benfield
THE Government's chief medical officer has warned that heavy use of antibiotics in livestock farming, as well as in general medicine, is a threat to human health.
Sir Liam Donaldson wrote in his annual report that "every unnecessary prescription written by a doctor, every uncompleted course of antibiotics and every inappropriate or unnecessary use in animals or agriculture is potentially a death warrant for a future patient.
"Use of antibiotics encouraged resistant bugs to flourish at the expense of less aggressive strains and cut the range of medicines still working – and the pharmaceuticals industry did not make new antibiotics fast enough to keep up, said Sir Liam.
He summed up: "The potency of one of the key weapons in the medical armoury is being eroded. The harm caused by each prescription is not visible at the time so society fails to take action."
When he published his report, last week, everyone concentrated on what he had to say about alcohol.
But campaigners against industrialised farming picked up on his call for a clampdown on antibiotics use and quoted it in a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday, in the course of drawing attention to a new strain of the "superbug" MRSA.
The Soil Association and Compassion In World Farming have posted a new film on the internet, Sick As A Pig, which argues that an MRSA bug known as ST398 has been transmitted to humans from pigs reared in intensive conditions in the Netherlands.
It is resistant to oxytetracycline, which is important against MRSA in humans.A handful of human cases was identified last year in Scotland.
But a Defra spokeswoman said yesterday: "At this stage we have no evidence which suggests that we should change our policy on national surveillance."
Antibiotics in livestock 'threatens humans'
Published Date: 24 March 2009
By Chris Benfield
THE Government's chief medical officer has warned that heavy use of antibiotics in livestock farming, as well as in general medicine, is a threat to human health.
Sir Liam Donaldson wrote in his annual report that "every unnecessary prescription written by a doctor, every uncompleted course of antibiotics and every inappropriate or unnecessary use in animals or agriculture is potentially a death warrant for a future patient.
"Use of antibiotics encouraged resistant bugs to flourish at the expense of less aggressive strains and cut the range of medicines still working – and the pharmaceuticals industry did not make new antibiotics fast enough to keep up, said Sir Liam.
He summed up: "The potency of one of the key weapons in the medical armoury is being eroded. The harm caused by each prescription is not visible at the time so society fails to take action."
When he published his report, last week, everyone concentrated on what he had to say about alcohol.
But campaigners against industrialised farming picked up on his call for a clampdown on antibiotics use and quoted it in a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday, in the course of drawing attention to a new strain of the "superbug" MRSA.
The Soil Association and Compassion In World Farming have posted a new film on the internet, Sick As A Pig, which argues that an MRSA bug known as ST398 has been transmitted to humans from pigs reared in intensive conditions in the Netherlands.
It is resistant to oxytetracycline, which is important against MRSA in humans.A handful of human cases was identified last year in Scotland.
But a Defra spokeswoman said yesterday: "At this stage we have no evidence which suggests that we should change our policy on national surveillance."
Friday, 20 March 2009
Film links MRSA to pigs and antibiotic use
Pig exposé claims MRSA link to antibiotics
Published: (20-03-2009)
Campaigners have launched a film which claims to expose the rise of a new strain of MRSA in pigs, and links its with the overuse of antibiotics on intensive farms.
The documentary, entitled, 'Sick as a pig', was filmed in the Netherlands and commissioned by the Soil Association in conjunction with Compassion in World Farming.
It claims 40% of Dutch pigs and up to 50% of Dutch pig farmers are now carrying the new strain, which is also spreading to the wider population. Although this type of MRSA was first detected in humans in the Netherlands as recently as 2003, it now causes almost one in three cases of MRSA treated in Dutch hospitals, the programme makers said.
It is not yet known whether any British pigs are affected by the new strain of MRSA (called ST398), it was claimed, since the results of testing, which was required by the EU and carried out in 2008, have not been made public.
Dutch scientists and government officials blame the widespread use of antibiotics in intensive pig farming for the rise and rapid spread of farm-animal MRSA.
The Soil Association said it has calculated that about 64% of all farm antibiotic use in the UK is in pig production.
It claims a Dutch government study has found that about 10% of Dutch pork is contaminated with MRSA, yet the UK has introduced no controls on imports, and the Food Standards Agency has refused to undertake any testing of meat for MRSA.
Richard Young, Soil Association policy adviser said: "The British Government has buried its head in the sand and is wasting a critical opportunity to prevent farm-animal MRSA getting a hold in the UK. Decisive action could reduce risks to human health, costs to the NHS and avoid another potentially devastating food-safety crisis.
“This new type of MRSA is spreading like wildfire across Europe, and we know it is transferring from farm animals to humans – with serious health impacts.”
“It is simply not acceptable to allow methods of food production which take away one of the biggest advances in medical science - our ability to treat and cure serious infections in the human population with antibiotics. We are sitting on a time-bomb here, and while most people have been kept in the dark about the issue, the Government's inaction will cost them dear for many years to come."
View the film on-line : http://www.green.tv/ecologist_sick_as_a_pig1
Published: (20-03-2009)
Campaigners have launched a film which claims to expose the rise of a new strain of MRSA in pigs, and links its with the overuse of antibiotics on intensive farms.
The documentary, entitled, 'Sick as a pig', was filmed in the Netherlands and commissioned by the Soil Association in conjunction with Compassion in World Farming.
It claims 40% of Dutch pigs and up to 50% of Dutch pig farmers are now carrying the new strain, which is also spreading to the wider population. Although this type of MRSA was first detected in humans in the Netherlands as recently as 2003, it now causes almost one in three cases of MRSA treated in Dutch hospitals, the programme makers said.
It is not yet known whether any British pigs are affected by the new strain of MRSA (called ST398), it was claimed, since the results of testing, which was required by the EU and carried out in 2008, have not been made public.
Dutch scientists and government officials blame the widespread use of antibiotics in intensive pig farming for the rise and rapid spread of farm-animal MRSA.
The Soil Association said it has calculated that about 64% of all farm antibiotic use in the UK is in pig production.
It claims a Dutch government study has found that about 10% of Dutch pork is contaminated with MRSA, yet the UK has introduced no controls on imports, and the Food Standards Agency has refused to undertake any testing of meat for MRSA.
Richard Young, Soil Association policy adviser said: "The British Government has buried its head in the sand and is wasting a critical opportunity to prevent farm-animal MRSA getting a hold in the UK. Decisive action could reduce risks to human health, costs to the NHS and avoid another potentially devastating food-safety crisis.
“This new type of MRSA is spreading like wildfire across Europe, and we know it is transferring from farm animals to humans – with serious health impacts.”
“It is simply not acceptable to allow methods of food production which take away one of the biggest advances in medical science - our ability to treat and cure serious infections in the human population with antibiotics. We are sitting on a time-bomb here, and while most people have been kept in the dark about the issue, the Government's inaction will cost them dear for many years to come."
View the film on-line : http://www.green.tv/ecologist_sick_as_a_pig1
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
New Outbreak at Charlottetown. P.E.I. Canada
I have been writing about this hospital for some time: look back in the archives for previous incidents including babies with MRSA.
They have pigs and have had circovirus epidemics in pigs on the island: the conditions that will produce MRSA and other superbugs epidemics in humans predicted the "Gardiner Hypothesis."
It looks as if the hospital is constantly being re-infected from the pig farms possibly via staff carriers.
They had tests on the staff last time, but seemed coy about releasing the results.
There have been so many infection scandals covered up in Canada that they are all walking on coals and know it too.
I'm really sorry for them but the Canadian public deserve honesty and openness.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2009/03/10/pe-superbug-qeh.html
Charlottetown medical unit reopens after superbug causes lockdown
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 4:54 PM
Part of Charlottetown's Queen Elizabeth Hospital was locked down Monday afternoon and night, and has since reopened after a patient tested positive for a superbug.
'We're putting the admissions on reverse isolation procedures, which means they are isolated for their own protection.'— Rick Adams, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Hospital officials are still trying to determine the source of the bacteria. All the patients in Unit 3 have been tested. In addition, environmental swabs have been done throughout the unit. It could take several days to get the results back.
Officials won't say which superbug, Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), was discovered Monday.
Unit 3 was reopened Tuesday, with special procedures in place to deal with new patients.
"For any admissions, we're putting the admissions on reverse isolation procedures, which means they are isolated for their own protection," said hospital executive director Rick Adams.
"They are being introduced to an environment where there may be antibiotic-resistant organisms, and the results of the tests are not back yet. The rooms have been thoroughly cleaned, so we're confident that as long as they are isolated in their rooms, precautions are certainly reasonable and adequate."
Adams said staff members have not been tested.
The hospital only recently declared the end of an outbreak of MRSA and VRE. The bacteria first showed up in the nursery last spring, and the hospital put severe restrictions on visitors to control the outbreak.
They have pigs and have had circovirus epidemics in pigs on the island: the conditions that will produce MRSA and other superbugs epidemics in humans predicted the "Gardiner Hypothesis."
It looks as if the hospital is constantly being re-infected from the pig farms possibly via staff carriers.
They had tests on the staff last time, but seemed coy about releasing the results.
There have been so many infection scandals covered up in Canada that they are all walking on coals and know it too.
I'm really sorry for them but the Canadian public deserve honesty and openness.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2009/03/10/pe-superbug-qeh.html
Charlottetown medical unit reopens after superbug causes lockdown
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 4:54 PM
Part of Charlottetown's Queen Elizabeth Hospital was locked down Monday afternoon and night, and has since reopened after a patient tested positive for a superbug.
'We're putting the admissions on reverse isolation procedures, which means they are isolated for their own protection.'— Rick Adams, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Hospital officials are still trying to determine the source of the bacteria. All the patients in Unit 3 have been tested. In addition, environmental swabs have been done throughout the unit. It could take several days to get the results back.
Officials won't say which superbug, Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), was discovered Monday.
Unit 3 was reopened Tuesday, with special procedures in place to deal with new patients.
"For any admissions, we're putting the admissions on reverse isolation procedures, which means they are isolated for their own protection," said hospital executive director Rick Adams.
"They are being introduced to an environment where there may be antibiotic-resistant organisms, and the results of the tests are not back yet. The rooms have been thoroughly cleaned, so we're confident that as long as they are isolated in their rooms, precautions are certainly reasonable and adequate."
Adams said staff members have not been tested.
The hospital only recently declared the end of an outbreak of MRSA and VRE. The bacteria first showed up in the nursery last spring, and the hospital put severe restrictions on visitors to control the outbreak.
Sunday, 8 March 2009
MRSA in Pigs - The Americans discuss while Britain covers up
The American pork and veterinary industries are now at least discussing the issue of MRSA and pigs and are moving far ahead of Britain where lies, intimidation and cover-up still rules.
They are trying to use science where Britain is still using pay-offs and ill deserved gongs to try to smother crimes against humanity. British vets cannot win - they will be exposed.
"We want to know the answer, if it's good or bad, we want to know sowe can deal with it and do what's right for our pigs, our workers andour consumers," Greiner said.
The Danish experience, with antibiotic use doubling after the ban on nontherapeutic antibiotics, echoes the slightly earlier British experience.
Britain deliberately tried to hide up the figures by changing the basis of collection and publication, but the Soil Association managed to unravel the situation although wrongly attributed the reason to wrongful use as a growth promoter.
The real reason for the massive increase in antibiotic use was the hidden 1999 British circovirus (PMWS) epidemic.
Once again the facts here are completely in accordance with the Gardiner Hypothesis: that MRSA in people follows Circovirus epidemics in pigs.
The Danes, Canadians and now Americans are following the same disastrous route, but the pressure is now building in the US. Hence this article.
The Americans are well on the way to starting to tackle the issue on the ground. They already know their pigs and pork carry MRSA st398 (and C.Diff) a knowledge deliberately denied to the British public about British pigs.
The Americans will then be searching for the source of the problems.They will be arriving in Britain shortly. Then the proverbial hits the fan.
British vets are rather naively hoping to get support and comfort from their American colleagues. Some chance!
The American vets will be dumping on the British to save their own skins.
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/34533/
Pork Industry Says Antibiotics Are Necessary for Animal AgricultureSunday, March 08, 2009 :: Staff infoZine
By Heather Lockwood - Some scientists say nontherapeutic antibiotics used in animal agriculture are contributing to the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant disease, but the pork industry says these antibiotics are necessary.
Washington, D.C. - infoZine - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - TheFood and Drug Administration puts all antibiotics used in animal agriculture through a "very vigorous approval process" that considers the safety of the animals, their human handlers, consumers and the environment, said Jennifer Greiner, a veterinarian and director of science and technology for the Pork Producers Council. She is the daughter of pork producers.
The FDA approves antibiotics in animal agriculture for four uses:treatment, prevention, bacterial control and growth promotion. The FDA considers all but growth promotion to be therapeutic uses.
"We truly believe 'nontherapeutic' is just a bad term. Any time you use an antibiotic, whether it be a lower dose or a higher dose, that antibiotic is going to kill some kind of bacteria," she said.
"All antibiotics have some sort of therapeutic value." Feeding low amounts of antibiotics daily to livestock, particularly young hogs, is a preventive measure "with some beneficial effects onthe gut," said Jim McKean, extension veterinarian at Iowa StateUniversity and associate director of the Iowa Pork Industry Center.
"There are health advantages for those animals receiving low levels ofwhat people call 'sub-therapeutic' antibiotics," McKean said. "There is not a clear pathway from the use in animals to a public health disease."
They were reacting to a Capitol Hill briefing last week about a study that found MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant disease, in swine and their human handlers for the first time in the U.S. Before that MRSA was found almost exclusively in hospitals. It is hard to treat, and the researchers said their study meant people who work with or eat meat could be at a low level of danger.
Greiner said Denmark's pork industry, which is about the same size as Iowa's, provides a good example of the consequences of a ban on nontherapeutic antibiotics.
Denmark outlawed the use of nontherapeutic antibiotics in animal agriculture in 1998, followed by the European Union.
"The amount of therapeutic antibiotics - treatment, prevention andcontrol - has doubled, more than doubled, since that ban went into effect," Greiner said, referring to Denmark's swine industry. "It's really been an animal care issue."
McKean called the increase in the use of therapeutic antibiotics afterthe ban "fairly substantial."
The National Pork Board has invested more than $200,000 into theresearch of MRSA and swine. Researchers from University of Minnesota, Ohio State University and University of Iowa are involved in the project.
"We want to know the answer, if it's good or bad, we want to know so we can deal with it and do what's right for our pigs, our workers and our consumers," Greiner said.
"We know that they are precious tools and we don't have very many antibiotics in our toolbox, so therefore,we want to make sure that we're using the ones that we have responsibly and judiciously."
"We just want to make certain that we have all our ducks in a row.MRSA is a quirky little bug to try to isolate in a lab and then runall those special tests on," Greiner said.
They are trying to use science where Britain is still using pay-offs and ill deserved gongs to try to smother crimes against humanity. British vets cannot win - they will be exposed.
"We want to know the answer, if it's good or bad, we want to know sowe can deal with it and do what's right for our pigs, our workers andour consumers," Greiner said.
The Danish experience, with antibiotic use doubling after the ban on nontherapeutic antibiotics, echoes the slightly earlier British experience.
Britain deliberately tried to hide up the figures by changing the basis of collection and publication, but the Soil Association managed to unravel the situation although wrongly attributed the reason to wrongful use as a growth promoter.
The real reason for the massive increase in antibiotic use was the hidden 1999 British circovirus (PMWS) epidemic.
Once again the facts here are completely in accordance with the Gardiner Hypothesis: that MRSA in people follows Circovirus epidemics in pigs.
The Danes, Canadians and now Americans are following the same disastrous route, but the pressure is now building in the US. Hence this article.
The Americans are well on the way to starting to tackle the issue on the ground. They already know their pigs and pork carry MRSA st398 (and C.Diff) a knowledge deliberately denied to the British public about British pigs.
The Americans will then be searching for the source of the problems.They will be arriving in Britain shortly. Then the proverbial hits the fan.
British vets are rather naively hoping to get support and comfort from their American colleagues. Some chance!
The American vets will be dumping on the British to save their own skins.
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/34533/
Pork Industry Says Antibiotics Are Necessary for Animal AgricultureSunday, March 08, 2009 :: Staff infoZine
By Heather Lockwood - Some scientists say nontherapeutic antibiotics used in animal agriculture are contributing to the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant disease, but the pork industry says these antibiotics are necessary.
Washington, D.C. - infoZine - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - TheFood and Drug Administration puts all antibiotics used in animal agriculture through a "very vigorous approval process" that considers the safety of the animals, their human handlers, consumers and the environment, said Jennifer Greiner, a veterinarian and director of science and technology for the Pork Producers Council. She is the daughter of pork producers.
The FDA approves antibiotics in animal agriculture for four uses:treatment, prevention, bacterial control and growth promotion. The FDA considers all but growth promotion to be therapeutic uses.
"We truly believe 'nontherapeutic' is just a bad term. Any time you use an antibiotic, whether it be a lower dose or a higher dose, that antibiotic is going to kill some kind of bacteria," she said.
"All antibiotics have some sort of therapeutic value." Feeding low amounts of antibiotics daily to livestock, particularly young hogs, is a preventive measure "with some beneficial effects onthe gut," said Jim McKean, extension veterinarian at Iowa StateUniversity and associate director of the Iowa Pork Industry Center.
"There are health advantages for those animals receiving low levels ofwhat people call 'sub-therapeutic' antibiotics," McKean said. "There is not a clear pathway from the use in animals to a public health disease."
They were reacting to a Capitol Hill briefing last week about a study that found MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant disease, in swine and their human handlers for the first time in the U.S. Before that MRSA was found almost exclusively in hospitals. It is hard to treat, and the researchers said their study meant people who work with or eat meat could be at a low level of danger.
Greiner said Denmark's pork industry, which is about the same size as Iowa's, provides a good example of the consequences of a ban on nontherapeutic antibiotics.
Denmark outlawed the use of nontherapeutic antibiotics in animal agriculture in 1998, followed by the European Union.
"The amount of therapeutic antibiotics - treatment, prevention andcontrol - has doubled, more than doubled, since that ban went into effect," Greiner said, referring to Denmark's swine industry. "It's really been an animal care issue."
McKean called the increase in the use of therapeutic antibiotics afterthe ban "fairly substantial."
The National Pork Board has invested more than $200,000 into theresearch of MRSA and swine. Researchers from University of Minnesota, Ohio State University and University of Iowa are involved in the project.
"We want to know the answer, if it's good or bad, we want to know so we can deal with it and do what's right for our pigs, our workers and our consumers," Greiner said.
"We know that they are precious tools and we don't have very many antibiotics in our toolbox, so therefore,we want to make sure that we're using the ones that we have responsibly and judiciously."
"We just want to make certain that we have all our ducks in a row.MRSA is a quirky little bug to try to isolate in a lab and then runall those special tests on," Greiner said.
Saturday, 7 March 2009
MRSA - Hong Kong, Phillippines and Indonesia
We can expect to see not just protectionism, but also
racism exploiting superbug issues.
Already Scandinavian hospitals are very wary of British patients, and
of their own returning nationals carrying disease into their
hospitals.
It does not hit the international media, because the complaints do not
appear in English language publications.
The problem of separating sensible and rational discrimination, for
medical reasons, from racist rabble rousing is going to inhibit
reporting and genuine scientific investigation.
The fact that Filipinos may be more vulnerable than Indonesians to
MRSA strongly supports the Gardiner Hypothesis for obvious reasons.
Mind you if you look back at history, enough scientists were always
either oblivious of or at the service of totalitarianism's worst
excesses.
It should not have come to this.
Britain's bent vets should have been called to account and struck off
years ago.
The RCVS bear a heavy share of the blame. They will have to be
abolished - and in disgrace too.
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=446598&publicationSubCategoryId=202
Hong Kong Pinoys tagged 'superbug' carriers
By Marvin Sy Updated March 08, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is looking into a report that
authorities in Hong Kong have tagged Filipinos as carriers of the
infectious methicilin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
"superbug," a virulent strain that has emerged as a major health
threat, to see if this would warrant the filing of a diplomatic
protest against the Special Administrative Region of China.
Interviewed over state-run radio station dzRB, Press Secretary Cerge
Remonde took offense at the report, which was carried by the HK-based
free English newspaper The Standard last Feb. 25, which noted that
around 126,000 Filipinos in HK are 23 times more likely to be infected
by the superbug than the local Chinese populace.
The report cited figures reportedly coming from the Center for Health
Protection.
"They point out the infection is rare among Indonesian domestic
helpers, who number only about 3,000, less than their Filipino
counterparts," he said.
"The center's experts fear the disease could be getting carried here
from the Philippines, but authorities in Manila cannot supply data for
MRSA superbug rates," the report added.
The report also quoted Hong Kong University microbiologist Ho
Pak-leung as saying that the center had not seen the superbug in
Indonesian maids a year ago, "lending weight to the idea the bacteria
is carried from the Philippines."
"We are aware that Singapore, which has also hired a lot of Filipino
domestic helpers, faces the same problem," said the report, quoting
Ho.
Remonde said the report warrants close scrutiny as it involves the
dignity of Filipinos in general.
"I think we should take offense over that," he said.
An earlier controversy had implicated Filipino domestic helpers as
carriers of the deadly SARS virus and they were accused of bringing
the bacteria from the Philippines, but in actuality, SARS originated
from China.
"They should not treat Filipinos in this manner. We contribute a lot
to their economy too," Remonde said in Filipino.
After a review of the report is done, Remonde said the Philippine
government would seriously consider whether or not to file a
diplomatic protest.
Filipinos, according to Remonde, are very hygienic in nature and are
known to take baths even three times a day.
Several strains of the drug-resistant bacteria are generally harmless
to healthy people but can become lethal to hospital patients in
weakened conditions.
The MRSA bacteria slip into open wounds and through catheters or
ventilator tubes, typically causing pneumonia or bloodstream
infections.
racism exploiting superbug issues.
Already Scandinavian hospitals are very wary of British patients, and
of their own returning nationals carrying disease into their
hospitals.
It does not hit the international media, because the complaints do not
appear in English language publications.
The problem of separating sensible and rational discrimination, for
medical reasons, from racist rabble rousing is going to inhibit
reporting and genuine scientific investigation.
The fact that Filipinos may be more vulnerable than Indonesians to
MRSA strongly supports the Gardiner Hypothesis for obvious reasons.
Mind you if you look back at history, enough scientists were always
either oblivious of or at the service of totalitarianism's worst
excesses.
It should not have come to this.
Britain's bent vets should have been called to account and struck off
years ago.
The RCVS bear a heavy share of the blame. They will have to be
abolished - and in disgrace too.
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=446598&publicationSubCategoryId=202
Hong Kong Pinoys tagged 'superbug' carriers
By Marvin Sy Updated March 08, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is looking into a report that
authorities in Hong Kong have tagged Filipinos as carriers of the
infectious methicilin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
"superbug," a virulent strain that has emerged as a major health
threat, to see if this would warrant the filing of a diplomatic
protest against the Special Administrative Region of China.
Interviewed over state-run radio station dzRB, Press Secretary Cerge
Remonde took offense at the report, which was carried by the HK-based
free English newspaper The Standard last Feb. 25, which noted that
around 126,000 Filipinos in HK are 23 times more likely to be infected
by the superbug than the local Chinese populace.
The report cited figures reportedly coming from the Center for Health
Protection.
"They point out the infection is rare among Indonesian domestic
helpers, who number only about 3,000, less than their Filipino
counterparts," he said.
"The center's experts fear the disease could be getting carried here
from the Philippines, but authorities in Manila cannot supply data for
MRSA superbug rates," the report added.
The report also quoted Hong Kong University microbiologist Ho
Pak-leung as saying that the center had not seen the superbug in
Indonesian maids a year ago, "lending weight to the idea the bacteria
is carried from the Philippines."
"We are aware that Singapore, which has also hired a lot of Filipino
domestic helpers, faces the same problem," said the report, quoting
Ho.
Remonde said the report warrants close scrutiny as it involves the
dignity of Filipinos in general.
"I think we should take offense over that," he said.
An earlier controversy had implicated Filipino domestic helpers as
carriers of the deadly SARS virus and they were accused of bringing
the bacteria from the Philippines, but in actuality, SARS originated
from China.
"They should not treat Filipinos in this manner. We contribute a lot
to their economy too," Remonde said in Filipino.
After a review of the report is done, Remonde said the Philippine
government would seriously consider whether or not to file a
diplomatic protest.
Filipinos, according to Remonde, are very hygienic in nature and are
known to take baths even three times a day.
Several strains of the drug-resistant bacteria are generally harmless
to healthy people but can become lethal to hospital patients in
weakened conditions.
The MRSA bacteria slip into open wounds and through catheters or
ventilator tubes, typically causing pneumonia or bloodstream
infections.
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