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Saturday 13 October 2012

First Irish case of 'pig MRSA'


We now have a little more information on the Irish human case of MRSA st398 from Irish Health.

The first news came on Monday and is here with comment.

The strain was indeed MRSA st398, ( cc398 ) as we expected, and the Irish are connecting it to pigs at least generally, and we know it was found late last year.

The article made it  clear that there is a difference between Irish and other European guidelines.

The Irish Health authorities confirm that prompt detection of isolates of this strain among animals and humans in Ireland is of the utmost importance, and that if they find any more cases they intend to do something about it.

The speed is not very commendable, but at least they recognise that they may have a problem and may have to implement stricter measures to protect the hospitals.

British veterinary heads are still firmly stuffed under the pillow and will have to be dragged out to face reality and a growing crisis.

The full Irish Health article is available here



First Irish case of 'pig MRSA'

[Posted: Sat 13/10/2012 by Niall Hunter

The first livestock-associated MRSA case has been reported in Ireland, following lab tests on an elderly patient.
The health authorities have warned that if more specimens of this potentially deadly new MRSA type are found in Ireland, extra infection prevention and control measures will have to be implemented to prevent its spread.
This would include pre-admission screening of high-risk patients who have had close contacts with livestock.

While it has not been confirmed whether the patient concerned became seriously ill as a result of the bug, this type of MRSA has been known to cause life-threatening infections in humans when it has occurred in other countries.

The HSE's Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has revealed that the ST398 MRSA strain, sometimes dubbed 'pig MRSA', was detected recently an elderly man living in a rural nursing home, who had been a part-time cattle farmer.

He was screened a number of times for MRSA during periods of hospitalisation between 2009 and 2011, and the 'pig MRSA' bug was found following extensive lab tests after his most recent hospitalisation late last year.
'Pig MRSA' was originally reported in 2005 among pigs, pig farmers and their close contracts in France and the Netherlands...

...It said if more isolates of the 'pig MRSA' strain are detected in Ireland, additional infection prevention and control measures will be needed to prevent its spread.

This would potentially include extending pre-admission screening of patients at high-risk of infection entering Irish hospitals to those with close contacts, or family members with close contacts with livestock.
The HPSC's report did not state in which part of Ireland the case occurred.