Superbugs in East Anglian Hospitals?

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Currently there is a major row at Great Yarmouth / Lowestoft over the James Paget Hospital. That is no secret and is being covered in the national press and on the BBC.

Questions are being asked in Parliament by East Anglian MPs following complaints by a large group of GPs.

East Norfolk and North Suffolk is in an uproar, with patients refusing to be treated at the James Paget.

The hospital is responding to repeated inspection failures over poor care of the elderly and nutrition problems. The government is acting led by the Minister of Health. Draconian actions are being threatened.

The BBC gives a reasonable summary here. More fiery accounts are available elsewhere.

The GPs ( a large group, not a few anonymous complainants) are likening it to the Stafford Hospital scandal with their excess deaths and chaos, suggesting that the problems are not just a side issue of poor nursing care.

The BBC reminds us about Stafford here

However, taking the lead from the GPs, it is perhaps an optimum time to remind readers that the James Paget  hospital has had superbug problems.  They are known to have led to 17 deaths a few years ago.

That was well covered by the writer on the newsgroup uk.business.agriculture at the time coupled with suggestions that zoonotic disease and local intensive livestock farming and processing especially pigs and poultry might be the source.

The cause was C.Diff 027, a pathogen shared with pigs. Quebec has had similar problems in both the hospitals and their pigs. That outbreak was known to the James Paget in 2007 and reported locally at that time.

The hospital was quoted in 2007 as saying  "We know there is a link between C diff and antibiotics however there are certain antibiotics which will not trigger the disease and we have been working with the local Primary Care Trust and GPs to get this message out. Normal hand gel does not have any effect, which is why stricter cleaning regimes have been imposed."

Those with an interest in the subject can check for themselves in the archives of uk.business.agriculture fully searchable on Google Groups.

MRSA st398 - Start of a New Epidemic?

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We start what will be a busy week for all those determined to get to the truth behind Britain's sick pigs and the increasing dangers to humans.

The article was from Arizona yesterday.

Veterinarians still claim Britain's pigs do not have MRSA st398.

This, will of course, be exposed in due course for a long and sustained cover-up with associated serious criminal activity. 


The article suggests the mechanism by which  its existence in British livestock may be proved and dated with sequencing and a phylogenetic tree.

Then what do we do?

What do we do with the pigs, the carrying vets and the victims?

Be sure to read the whole article here


Drug-Resistant Staph Infections in Europe Could Mark Start of a New Epidemic


By Robin Lloyd | October 16, 2011 |


Drug-Resistant Staph Infections in Europe Could Mark Start of a New
Epidemic


FLAGSTAFF, Arizona—A relatively new type of drug-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus could represent the world’s next bacterial
epidemic, an environmental health expert said here today at a
conference for science writers.


The superbug, called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
strain 398, or MRSA ST398, was first identified in an infant in the
Netherlands in 1994 and traced back to her family’s pigs. Now,
researchers are starting to see more serious infections and some of
the cases reveal no direct link to livestock, said Lance B. Price,
director of The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), in
Flagstaff.


“The rate of human [ST398] infections is going up in Denmark and the
Netherlands,” Price said. “We are just looking at the beginning of an
epidemic.” Price made his comments during a presentation at the 49th
annual New Horizons in Science meeting, organized by the Council for
the Advancement of Science Writing.


The mechanism for transmission in these newer ST398 cases currently is
unknown. Researchers are considering various explanations including
human-to-human exposure, contaminated meat or changes in the organism
that make it spread more easily, Price said. Already, ST398 was
recently found in about half of the pigs and farmers tested in
Iowa....

Hepatitis E in Spanish pig herds

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For years we  have been campaigning  publicly for Britain's
pigs to be tested for Hepatitis E  and for the results to be released
to the public

We know that we have been losing pig farmers to Hepatitis E.

Britain's corrupt vetocracy has farmers' blood on its hands.

Full report here

Widespread distribution of hepatitis E virus in Spanish pig herds


Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is a serious health problem in
developing countries and is also increasingly reported in
industrialized regions. HEV is considered a zoonotic agent and strains
isolated from swine and human sources are genetically similar.


Thus, HEV is of increasing importance to both public and animal
health. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the distribution
of HEV in a large population of pigs from herds located in different
autonomous regions throughout Spain. 


Results: The presence of anti-HEV IgG antibodies was analyzed in 1141
swine serum samples (corresponding to 381 pigs younger than 6 months
and 760 pigs older than 6 months) collected from 85 herds.


Herds were located in 6 provinces in 4 autonomous regions throughout
Spain. At least one pig tested positive for anti-HEV IgG in over 80%
of herds.


Of individual pigs, 20.4% (233/1141) were positive for anti-HEV IgG,
with the prevalence being higher in adult pigs than in those under 6
months (30.2% vs. 15.5%).


A subset of serum samples taken at 2- to 5-week intervals showed that
seroprevalence dropped between 3 and 11 weeks of age, and then rose
significantly by the 15th week. Pigs were also examined for the
presence of HEV-RNA by RT-PCR.


Of pigs tested for the presence of HEV-RNA 18.8% (64/341) were
positive, with at least one pig in almost half of the herds testing
positive. HEV-RNA amplicons from several positive pigs were sequenced
and all were of genotype 3. 


Conclusions: HEV was found to be widely distributed among swine farms
across Spain, with the prevalence being highest among animals older
than 6 months.


These results indicate that HEV infection either is or is likely to
become endemic in the Spanish swine population.


Author: Nereida Jimenez de OyaIgnacio de BlasAna-Belen BlazquezMiguel
Martin-AcebesNabil HalaihelOlivia GironesJuan-Carlos SaizEstela
Escribano-Romero
Credits/Source: BMC Research Notes 2011, 4:412

MRSA in Pigs now self-sufficient

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Pig MRSA is now self-sufficient too.  It no longer needs sick pigs and greedy panicking veterinarians frantically over-feeding antibiotics to pose a risk to humans.

Report here

 13 October 2011 -The MRSA bacterium, which is resistant to antibiotics, has spread rapidly in the past few years on pig farms. Extensive use of antibiotics is thought to help it spread, but reducing the use of antibiotics is not enough to eliminate MRSA on pig farms, says Els Broens in her doctoral thesis.

At the beginning of 2007 the incidence of MRSA on pig farms stood at 30 percent, but by the end of 2008 it had gone up to 75 percent, Brons reports. Large pig farms (with more than 500 sows) were particularly likely to be MRSA positive. The bacterium is transported from farm to farm in livestock trucks. Many pigs also become infected on the way to the abattoir, because the MRSA bacterium is present in other pigs in the truck. Pig farmers and abattoir workers can become infected with the bacterium too, if they come into contact with live pigs. Abattoir staff who only work with dead pigs do not run any risk, says to Broens. 

In order to cut the transmission of MRSA from pigs to humans, the bacterium needs to be combatted at source: on the farm. Only reducing antibiotic use will not solve the problem says Broens, because the resistant bacteria can spread and thrive among pigs that have not had any antibiotics. Besides reducing antibiotic use, Broens argues for hygiene measures in order to prevent the spread of resistant bacteria on and between pig farms. This requires a joint plan by farmers, politicians, supermarkets and vets, says the PhD candidate. 

Els Broens is due to receive her PhD on 28 October from Mart de Jong, professor of Quantitative Veterinary Epidemiology.

MRSA st398 - The Emergence of Swine-associated MRSA

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"A Dangerous Piggyback Ride"

The Emergence of Swine-associated MRSA

John M. Balbus MD MPH
American Public Health Association
San Diego.

An interesting slide show from the USA. We are told that it was originally given as a lecture to the American Public Health Association meeting in 2008: three years ago


See slide show here. Don't miss the associated notes. You need to scroll down the page.

Slide 20 makes it clear that ST398 was known to be in Britain.

You will find references to MRSA st398 in children in Scotland in this blog and in the newsgroup uk.business.agriculture. We also noted that this outbreak had been hidden up for for six months, see here.

When I was a lad, just starting out, we still had many WW1 survivors still at work, one of whom was fond of quoting this about government secrecy:

"Shush!  It's a secret. We know, Jerry knows, even the bloody Mesopotamians know, but it is still a secret."

We wonder if anyone has told Britain's government veterinarians that everyone knows they are hiding up a scandal: one that is going to rock the world and knock them off their pedestal.

Should not have done it, should they? They were always bound to get caught.

The length of time they have deliberately misled the British public on such a serious matter must be some kind of record. It  knocks spots off the secret of the human E.Coli 0157 epidemic in Britain earlier this year. That was a mere seven months of deceit and cover-up.

MRSA in British pigs - Movement?

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We can't expect Britain's vetocracy to come out of their bunker hands held high and owning up to MRSA in British pigs.

That's too much to ask after so many years of positive PR and silence.

They covered up a British human E.Coli outbreak this year, see here, That must have brought a cold wind to veterinary consciences and common sense.

People are getting hurt, and sometimes killed, by zoonotic disease emanating from livestock, not least pigs.

It's no time for cover-ups, especially where the culprits hide behind the bastion of Crown Immunity and leave their colleagues to face the gathering storm.

Anyway from this passage, do British pigs have MRSA or not?

Full article here:

"Antibiotic resistance and pig production - is there a link?

...MRSA was first found in the UK in 1959; since 2005, it has also been linked to the pig industry, when Dutch research showed that MRSA had entered the human chain through direct contact with pigs. Soon it was found that about 25% of pig producers carried MRSA bacteria, mainly CC398, not previously found in man. This sparked many researchers around the world to find out whether the bacteria can also be found on pig and other livestock producers around the globe. Research confirmed the connection in most EU countries, as well as in Canada and the USA...."

It does not answer the question, does it?

But it does suggest that it is a legitimate question to ask why MRSA st398  (cc 398) has not been found in British pigs.

A question that should have been answered properly, promptly and fully by government, many years ago.

The reality is that anyone not wanting to find disease, does not look properly, and then later suggests that it came from someone who did  investigate properly and did find disease that they admitted publicly.

Easy to do, of course, but not one to stand hostile scrutiny or make you many friends.

Anyway, the last chance to do that has now passed and the British vetocracy has little option but to come clean and perhaps save a few human lives.

Pig MRSA - the genie is out of the bottle

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Mechanical Translation from Dutch.

"Studies on transmission of MRSA showed that v-v-MRSA can spread quickly and easily maintain and pig populations, even if no antibiotics are used."

Source here

Title of thesis
Livestock-associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus in pigs - prevalence, risk factors and transmission dynamics



Drs. EM (Els) Broens: Veegerelateerde MRSA in pigs


October 28, 2011 1:30 p.m.
Location: Aula, building 362, Gen.. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen
Organisation: Wageningen University
Supervisor: Prof. MCM de Jong (Quantitative Veterinary Epidemiology)
Co-Promotor: Dr. ir EAM Graat, Dr AW van de Giessen

Reason for this research was the discovery of a link between patients with methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the "hospital bacteria", and contact with pigs. Our research showed that these veegerelateerde (v-) MRSA was present on the majority of Dutch pig farms (70%) and that larger companies are more likely V-positive MRSA than smaller companies. Company size appears to be a collection of risk factors larger firms more often positive. Trolleys in waiting areas and distributes V-MRSA within a few hours from slaughter pigs by contact with infected animals or a positive environment. Six percent of slaughterhouse staff tested positive for v-MRSA and found that all people who work with live pigs. Studies on transmission of MRSA showed that v-v-MRSA can spread quickly and easily maintain and pig populations, even if no antibiotics are used.
________________________________________
Title of thesis
Livestock-associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus in pigs - prevalence, risk factors and transmission dynamics

Sick as a pig (and in Britain too!)

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The writer continues to be amazed that In Britain MRSA st398 is still seen as a foreign threat thanks to our lying thieving megalomaniac veterinarians.

You would have thought that after the recent  human E.Coli outbreak cover up, see here, that Britain would have cottoned on to the fact that you cannot trust Britain’s veterinarians, Health Protection Agency or Food Standards Agency.

Shakespeare’s infection from abroad  "This fortress built by Nature for herself  Against infection..." has a lot to answer for. 

It is so embedded in the British public subconscious that diseases come from abroad, they simply cannot envisage the threat from professionals within.

“What civilised country would allow its public servants to cover up epidemics threatening human lives for a dozen years?”

It can’t happen, but it did and in Britain.

We need to start building the gaols. We can cut down the quality of the building. They need a dose of the conditions they condemned the pigs and the people to suffer before they died in agony and squalor.

There is a film and more behind a pay wall for those inclined.

The Ecologist article here

http://www.theecologist.org/investigations/food_and_farming/268866/sick_as_a_pig.html

Sick as a pig

Jim Wickens

26th March, 2009

Another strain of MRSA is emerging from the factory farms of Northern Europe, and it is linked to the insatiable demand for cheap meat on our plates. The Ecologist Film Unit investigates

It remains to be seen whether farm-animal-acquired strains of MRSA will soon be affecting people in the UK

It is a landscape of clinical efficiency. Flat, square fields, neatly interspersed with row upon row of anonymous factory units, greet the passer-by. Behind the silent facades, every building contains thousands of farm animals. It could be veal calves, turkeys or chickens, but in this region of the Netherlands, close to Eindhoven, it is predominantly pigs. The Netherlands has a higher concentration of farm animals per square kilometre than any country on the planet, and these farms are now at the frontline of a new battle against MRSA.

‘Community-acquired’ or ‘farm animal’ MRSA has a grim track record. Commonly causing skin infections, this strain of bacteria can also cause pneumonia, bone infections and endocarditis. And in the Netherlands it is spreading. ‘What we have seen here in our region is a rise of MRSA-positive patients, from an average of 40 or 50 MRSA-positive patients in this entire region in a year to last year 224, and about 60 per cent of those are animal-related MRSA,’ says Mireille Wulf, a microbiologist based in Eindhoven.

Recent studies have shown that between 30 and 50 per cent of all pig farmers in the Netherlands carry the bacteria….