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Wednesday 11 May 2011

MRSA st398 - human infections in German pig production areas

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The designations cc398 and St398 are interchangeable – one and the same. MRSA cc398 is prefered in some European countries.

“Here we describe the emergence of MRSA CC398 as a cause of human infections in a north-western German university hospital located in an area with a high density of pig production.”

Britain does not bother, seemingly because nobody has warned the hospitals of the risk from pigs, calves and from pig workers and veterinarians. We do not, according to our bent veterinarians, have MRSA in our pigs.

Everyone is going to want to know how Britain missed it.

British government vets with a taste for faking tests during epidemic, attempting to intimidate witnesses to Parliament, defying Courts and relying on PR to solve epidemics are not going to be believed.

Their battle honours include mishandling and losing to BSE, Circovirus, Classical Swine Fever, Foot and Mouth, Avian Flu, Swine Flu and much else including delaying a General Election and having to be renamed and reorganised to try to leave past disgraces behind them.

This is lining up to be the biggest scandal of the 21st century

Abstact in full here


Sunday, May 08, 2011

12:30 – 13:30

MRSA: trend, surveillance, genetic characterisation


MRSA CC398 as an emerging cause of human infections in Germany


R. Köck, A. Mellmann, A.W. Friedrich, K. Becker* (Münster, DE)

Objectives: Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) of the clonal complex (CC) 398 have emerged in European livestock and among persons with a direct contact to these animals. Here we describe the emergence of MRSA CC398 as a cause of human infections in a north-western German university hospital located in an area with a high density of pig production.
Methods: All patients admitted to the hospital between 2008 and October 2010 were screened for nasal MRSA carriage at admission. Every first MRSA isolate of each patient case as well as every isolate from clinical specimens was typed using S. aureus protein A gene (spa) sequence typing. Isolates were grouped into spa clonal complexes (spa-CC) by the Based Upon Repeat Pattern Algorithm (BURP). Isolates clustering in the same spa-CC with spa types t011, t034 and t108 (known as the predominant spa types associated with MRSA CC398 from livestock) were considered to represent potential livestock-related MRSA CC398 isolates. If MRSA isolates were detected in material obtained within 72 h after admission, the cases were defined as imported.


Results: In total, 1,748 MRSA isolates were characterized. Among these, 1,378 isolates were from screening specimens, 31 from blood cultures, 45 from respiratory secretions, 134 from wound swabs, 10 from abscesses, 13 from urine and 137 from clinical varia. The proportion of MRSA CC398 on all MRSA found was 21% in 2008, 23% in 2009 and 28% in 2010. Among isolates from screening specimens, this proportion increased from 24% in 2008 to 33% in 2010. MRSA isolates from blood cultures were associated with MRSA CC398 in 6%, from abscesses in 10%, from wound swabs in 8%, from respiratory secretions in 16%, from urine in 0% and from clinical varia in 15%. Overall MRSA CC398 was found in 14%, 9% and 11% of all clinical specimens in 2008 to 2010, respectively. Ninety four % of all MRSA CC398 cases were classified as imported. The distribution of spa types among isolates considered to belong to CC398 was t011 (52%), t034 (34%), t108 (6%), t1451 and t2011 (each 2%), t1197, t1250, t1255, t1457, t2346, t2576, t2582, t2741, t3934 and t5095 (each less than 1%).

Conclusion: MRSA CC398 is going to become the predominant MRSA clonal lineage in a German university hospital located in a rural area representing one third of all MRSA isolates from screenings in 2010. Of utmost interest, MRSA CC398 isolates have also emerged as frequent causes of infections.