Danish Government excludes top Swine MRSA scientists from investigation.

The quotes come from "The Engineer" Denmark's top publication in its field, actually science, not just engineering.

Elsewhere in Denmark the row is vitriolic. These are mainstream scientists being excluded and the Danish state is deliberately smearing their supporters with blatant fabrications.

This is little doubt in my mind that the Danish Government has been in a panic and faking it up over recent months, once swine MRSA became a very obvious and serious public health problem, that they did not know how to handle.

They are obviously following the example set by Britain's corrupt agricultural ministry Maff-Defra and its doubtful veterinarians over recent decades.

We should demand, and expect, Britain to lead in ethics, not drag the rest of the world down to the lowest level, in a wave of state veterinary crime.

Anyway, corrupt state veterinarians, anywhere, have become a major cause of human illness. They have to be removed from positions of power and influence.

As always, read the whole article here, realising that it offers a mechanical translation from the Danish.

(Some of the Danish protesters have taken to publishing in their excellent English too. They are to be commended! We are grateful.)

DTU researchers excluded from the mapping of routes of transmission of

porcine MRSA

A new survey of the modes of transmission of porcine MRSA will take place without some of the country's leading researchers in the field."We have been critical and will be sorted out," says Professor DTU.

By Maria Behrendt September 26, 2014 at. 05:03

A political launched mapping of pig bacterium MRSA's modes of transmission will take place without the participation of the National Food Institute, otherwise houses some of the country's leading researchers in resistant bacteria.

It's shocking Professor Hans Jørn Kolmos from the University: "These are the scientists who designed the whole picture of MRSA problem," he said.

The survey, commissioned by the Food Minister Dan Jørgensen (S) and Health Minister Nick Hækkerup (S), comes in the wake of a massive media coverage, which has revealed that the number of Danes infected with pig-MRSA increases, while our knowledge of how bacteria spread is negligible...

...Hans Jørn Kolmos is no doubt that researchers from DTU is excluded for political reasons:

"It is a result of the researchers at the National Food Institute has been critical of the authorities' action against pig MRSA."

One of the discussions which have recently been conducted in the media about whether the pig-MRSA can be transmitted from meat to humans. Statens Serum Institut (SSI) recently reported four cases of MRSA infection that could be linked to meat from foreign poultry, and
TVSouth has collaborated with just the National Food Institute published a study showing that the bacterium is found in every fifth package pork in Danish supermarkets.

While researchers at the National Food Institute maintains that meat is a likely source of infection, which should be taken in a survey, rejects Food Administration, however, that it should be the case...

...In a reply to the engineer call Board pig MRSA a 'human-animal problem', and therefore it is the National Veterinary Institute and SSI, will be responsible for the research, which will run over the next two to three years...

USA - Hepatitis E - HEV- in pigs and people

Hepatitis E in pigs seems to be moving centre stage in the USA.

Britain remains in denial, for this zoonotic disease too, with what little research there is into pig farmers' deaths in Cornwall, and elsewhere, seemingly moving at snails' pace.

Anyone seeking details of what has been published in Britain will find posts on the newsgroup, uk.business.agriculture searchable on Google Groups referencing articles and news reports going back some years.

This blog carries similar material; use 'Hepatitis' in the search box at the head of this page to find dozens of articles and pleas for action.

A very useful group of pages on the science and the human risks has just been published by the Hepatitis C Support Project a  non-profit organization for  HCV education, support and advocacy

Just a sample, read the whole here.

Hepatitis E (HEV)

Written by: Alan Franciscus, Editor-in-Chief

Foreword

In the past, it was believed that hepatitis E was only a problem in developing  countries due to contaminated water supplies. It was also believed that in  industrialized countries the majority of HEV infections were among people  who had visited countries where HEV infection was widespread. 

However, over the last few years, studies and news reports have surfaced  that are painting a different picture of HEV infections in industrialized countries such as the United States. In the U.S., there is little information  about the prevalence of HEV mainly because of the lack of surveillance  and testing even though there have been small studies that have hinted  that the prevalence of HEV is more widespread than previously believed. 

Recently, a large study on the prevalence of HEV was published that will  give us a better picture of the estimated number of people in the U.S. who  have been infected with HEV. The study results are somewhat alarming  and should, at the very least, promote more dialogue about the need for  more strategies for testing and educating the public about the risk factors and ways to prevent the transmission of HEV…

Via Farmworkers, Superbugs Find a Route Away from Drug-Using Farms

The usual capable article from Maryn McKenna, picking up on the implications of the latest pig MRSA research in the USA, and touching on Denmark.

It can't touch on Britain. Defra's corrupt veterinarians have been covering up the situation here for years, still pathetically insisting that British pigs do not have MRSA.

Alas, its not just MRSA st398.

As always read in full, here,  it is not a mechanical translation but McKenna's clear informed prose.

Via Farmworkers, Superbugs Find a Route Away from Drug-Using Farms

BY MARYN MCKENNA   09.21.14  |   7:41 AM  |  

Pig farms from the air. Image: Maryn McKenna

One of the persistent questions regarding antibiotic use in meat production, and its effect on the health of humans who live far away from production farms, is: How do the resistant bacteria that result get from one place to another? That is: Most people accept by now that using antibiotics in livestock-raising causes drug resistance to emerge in the systems of those animals, in their guts or on their skin. But whether those newly resistant bacteria leave the farm, and how they make the trip, is both fought over and — despite much investigation –  still under- researched.

Some studies have shown that bacteria can move off farms in groundwater, on the feet of flies, and via dust on the wind. What is insufficiently explored — because it is difficult to get large meat-production facilities to cooperate — is whether farm workers themselves are serving as a transport vehicle.

A new study just published (and open-access, so anyone can read it) helps to answer that question. It looks at the possibility that workers on large hog farms are carrying away drug-resistant staph or MRSA, and especially a type of resistant staph — known familiarly as
“pig MRSA” and more technically as “livestock-associated MRSA” — that emerged on hog farms a decade ago and is directly linked to farm-drug use...

...The new study finds that hog farmers are carrying multi-drug resistant livestock-associated MRSA away from the farm and — this is the crucial bit — that their bodies are hanging onto those bacteria, in a way that might allow them to spread, for up to 14 days...

... They also found a swarm of diversity within the pig-associated strains; not just the strain ST- or CC-398, the most common, but six others as well...

... To me, that certainly looks like a big red arrow, blinking SOMETHING HARMFUL HAPPENING HERE, pointing toward farms that use lots of antibiotics. And if we want to be serious about reducing antibiotic resistance, we ought to follow that arrow where it leads...

Denmark - Over a dozen babies infected with MRSA st398

The swine MRSA turmoil in Denmark continues, and is now spreading rapidly to the United Kingdom.

The children must come first, and nobody in the British pig industry could ever disagree with that.

It is ironic, and sad, that the children of piggy people - pig farmers, veterinarians and others handling pigs and pork are most at risk.

Perhaps Britain's disgraced veterinarians will now do their duty, at least by their own families, and insist that the full story of MRSA st398 in Britain is made public without further delay.

This is the latest news in English from Denmark. You can read in full here.

Over a dozen babies infected with MRSA

Published: 19 Sep 2014 08:35 GMT+02:00
Updated: 19 Sep 2014 08:35 GMT+02:00
       
In light of revelations that at least 13 children whose parents work in the swine industry have been infected with MRSA, a leading expert calls the authorities' approach 'unsustainable'.

Leading experts warned in August that up to 12,000 Danes could be infected with antibiotic-resistance MRSA and now there is evidence that the infections have spread to society's weakest members: newborn babies...

MRSA - No Sex Please - We're Danish (or British)

We had trouble translating this from the Danish. Handle with care.

We will not quote any extracts, other than the title

This is what happens when you try to silence journalists and critics!

Something for Defra, Britain's corrupt agriculture ministry, their veterinary service, drug dealer pals and cronies to take to heart.

Like the Danes, the Brits were promised transparency, instead we got state controlled bullies in our homes threatening us, with worse still to come.

Danish speakers can find it here.

Lynch mobs: MRSA-flyer can create panic

MRSA (st398) can infect through food

More from Denmark. 

A government that allows the arrest of journalists reporting a health scandal, despite the ruling of their Ombudsman, is not to be trusted to give accurate information on the same scandal.

There is no doubt that handling pigs or pork or even the packaging can transfer the MRSA.

It is not proved beyond doubt that eating pork can cause an infection, but it does seem very likely.

As always, read in full here, remembering that it is a mechanical translation.

Wednesday

September 17, 2014

MRSA can infect through food

It is misleading when the authorities state that the management ofMRSA-infected meat can not be infected, experts say.

17:09:14 | 08:53 |  Jacob Hove

When SSI, Food Administration and the National Board of Health in their guidelines require that handling meat with MRSA is not transmitted through food handling, so it is misleading.

It says more experts to Radio24syv.

Professor and Consultant at Odense University Jørn Kolmos says:

- Regulatory announcements that MRSA is not transmitted through meat,

does not hold water.

- I think that the Agriculture and Food in the degree has painted himself into a corner and made it all the time by saying that there is something there. They should have as much biological knowledge that they can figure out that we obviously will look infection through

meat, says Frank Aarestrup, professor at DTU.

Four infected

Recently, it was revealed that four persons without any contact with live animals have been infected with the bacterium apparently after cooking infected meat...

Neighbours to pig farm fear MRSA

The same kind of dispute over the pig industries' desire to build ever larger indoor units blew up in England a few years ago. The dispute accidentally threw up the information that private testing for MRSA in British pigs had been going on for some time.

You can find all the details on this blog, using the search box on this page

In Denmark, there is no dispute. The pigs carry MRSA st398 and the argument now centres on just how many human deaths it will cause and what, if anything, to do about it.

It is a much more productive argument over a serious problem.

As always, read the whole report (mechanical translation from the Danish) here.

Neighbors to pig farm fear MRSA

The fear of being hit by swine bacterium MRSA has seized an entire community in Central Zealand.

Pigs bacterium MRSA has so far cost four deaths at home and the fear of being infected has seized an entire community in Central Zealand.

By Kim Palm

The fear of being hit by the multidrug-resistant swine bacterium MRSA, which has so far led to four deaths in Denmark, has taken a whole community near Great Merløse Zealand and is also subject to political reading of a meeting in Soro tonight.

"When the wind is in the wrong direction, we will carefully consider whether we dare go out of the house" LAUGE LARSEN, NEIGHBORING PIG

Specifically, council members treat an environmental permit from one of Zealand's largest pig Kim Kjaer Knudsen. He wants to build a large barn when he wants to increase fivefold its pig for an annual production of 40,000 pigs and 20,000 finishers.

60 neighbors protested. They fear increased pollution and especially being infected with MRSA...

Pig MRSA - Arrested Danish Journalists - Permission to appeal

An important development in getting the MRSA st398 scandal properly reported in Denmark and worldwide.

Despite many years, MRSA in pigs is still officially denied in Britain.

But the UK veterinary establishment know their days of cover-up are over. Soon, they will have to try to explain their quite extraordinary conduct.

It is quite a complicated judgment in a complex situation, you will need to read in full (mechanical translation) here:

September 16, 2014 

 Bacteria

Openness parliament anchor judgment to publish pig farms

Openness parliament anchor now the central part of the judgment for publishing the names of pig farms infected with the dangerous pig bacteria MRSA. Procesbevillingsnævnet has just given permission to
appeal... 

How Superbugs Hitch a Ride From Hog Farms Into Your Community

A nice article from Tom Philpott in Mother Jones.

Nothing really spectacularly new, but pulling together recent American research and helping making knowledge of the dangers accessible, also publicising results very much along the same lines as the Danes.

From the point of view of Britain, her veterinary establishment are looking ever more wrong, arrogant, devious, isolated and secretive.

They will be feeling the pressure.

However, we should be understanding that, whoever was at fault, they are also the people, with their families, pig workers. local residents and the sick, most endangered by MRSA st398 and other Livestock Associated MRSA.

We desperately need an open and humble admission of the real situation in the UK from the government veterinarians

Many years too late, we have to start protecting the hospitals.

You can read the whole article here.

How Superbugs Hitch a Ride From Hog Farms Into Your Community

-By Tom Philpott

| Sat Sep. 13, 2014 6:00 AM EDT

Factory-scale farms don't just house hundreds of genetically similar animals in tight quarters over vast cesspools collecting their waste.

They also house a variety of bacteria that live within those unfortunate beasts' guts... 

...Antibiotic-resistant bacteria leave these facilities in two main  ways. The obvious one is meat: As Food and Drug Administration data show, the pork chops, chicken parts, and ground beef you find on supermarket shelves routinely carry resistant bacteria strains. But
there's another, more subtle way: through the people who work on these operations...

(Followed by summaries if three recent studies in the USA.)

Norway - MRSA st398 - Insurance available for culled pigs

Interesting piece from Norway, which confirms that where insurance exists, it is paying out for culling MRSA cc398 hit herds.

The article is partly a predictable argument about insufficient and late state compensation. We are all familiar with this scene.

Back in 2001 & 2, there were claims that there was no insurance available in Britain for such a government ordered cull, specifically the CSF and FMD then plaguing the country.

When we queried why there was no insurance available in Britain, we never did get a satisfactory reply.

There were suggestions that the EU played a part in the situation (Note Norway is not a member of the EU).

There were, and are, obvious issues as to why the taxpayer was compensating farmers for a known business risk, but there was a much more important underlying issue.

Where insurance exists, the underwriters play a very important role in regulating the industry, penalising high risk activities and favouring prudence and care.

If farmers are businesses, and for sure in Britain they almost always are, normal business practices play an important role and insurance against known risks is one of them. A properly regulated industry is very much in the interests of farmers.

The whole issue needs investigating.

The full Norwegian report is here, please read in full understanding that it is a mechanical translation.

Farmers do not receive compensation for antibiotic resistant bacteria in pigs

MRSA frame farmers get hundreds of thousands in losses. Experts fear the poor and late replacement turn undercut efforts to combat the infection.

BJARNE BEKKEHEIEN AASE

PUBLISHED: 8/9/14 2:30 | UPDATED: 08/09/14 6:29 P.M.

A year after the first swine farms to slaughter all pigs in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacterium MRSA, farmers have still not received compensation. And compensation they can expect covers nearly the losses they incurred, according to experts.

Special Veterinary Odd Magne Karlsen in Meat and Poultry Association (KLF) feared that a lame and cumbersome system and poor compensation schemes should turn undercut efforts against the feared contagion...

...MRSA is a variation of Staphylococcus aureus that has developed resistance to antibiotics. In Denmark, four people have died of swine-MRSA. In Norway, MRSA frame farmers, for the sake of public health, slaughter and redevelop the whole swine herds. According to the FSA shows the fight against MRSA promising results, but the farmers who have been affected are in despair over compensation schemes.

Insurance payments to cover operating losses comes According to Karlsen quickly and works well for farmers who have subscribed insurance. Dissatisfaction, however, is great with the public compensation scheme, which will cover the loss of animals and costs of
remediation...

...He bring forward that the economic analyzes show that the community will save significant costs on swine production is free of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Compensation schemes that cover the actual losses for farmers believe he is therefore a good investment...

..."Progress is about to stop. I feared it might turn undercut impressive efforts to get rid of MRSA. " Norwegian Farmers' Union support and demand for better compensation
system...

...Listhaug will not comment on the criticism of the compensation schemes across Nations.

Denmark - Pig MRSA - "Better to live in blissful ignorance."

If the Danes had wanted to implement the 'British solution' of failing to test properly and making quite sure that nothing was found in their pigs, they left it too late.

The gene is out of the bottle now, and in a very big way too.

You can sense the sarcasm even through the mechanical translation from the Danish.

The Danes, despite their serious problems, leave Britain's useless devious government veterinarians in the unenviable position of being exposed as dangerous scamsters on the world stage.

Dangerous not just to Britain either.

Mind you, Britain's veterinarians will probably regret that less than bringing pig MRSA home to their own family.

The full 'Engineer' article is here.

Farmers on MRSA screening of breeding pigs: 

Better to live in blissful ignorance

There is no way to eliminate MRSA infection from the 26 Danish farms with breeding pigs. Therefore they should not be screened for MRSA, because if they are hit by the resistant bacteria, fleeing customers, says Agriculture and Food.

By Maria Behrendt September 10, 2014 at. 10:37

It would be too expensive to test the Danish breeding pigs for MRSA. This may mean that customers stop buying from infected herds and has agriculture can not afford.

So says the farmers' organization, Food & Agriculture therefore believe that the authorities should be completely stay away from screening breeding herds...

... But the Danish pig herds, the authorities should refrain from screening, even though screening is part of the new risk assessment considers the organization.

In a newsletter to its members justify Agriculture and Food Chairman, Martin Douwe Egberts, its position that there is no technical justification for screening for MRSA. But it's also about economics.

"We run the risk that our customers stop buying genes from the herds tested positive. It will cost a lot of money, "says the director of the Pig Research Claus Fertin.

He does not believe that it is possible to remove the MRSA bacteria from breeding herds, and therefore we should definitely keep us from examining it.

So it is better to live in blissful ignorance?

"Yes. I know it may sound cynical and hard to understand, but we still have not the knowledge to eradicate the bacterium. We can only slow it down, "says Claus Fertin.

Agriculture and Food has an expectation that MRSA infection is quite prevalent in the Danish breeding herds...

Denmark - Doctors have to perform in Space Suit - pig MRSA

The situation over MRSA in pigs and pig people gets ever more serious.

The Danes and their media are rightly concerned.

Britain continues to be in denial.

Her veterinarians, pig farmers, workers and their families are at the greatest risk.

The full Politken article is here. Please bear in mind that the quotes are a mechanical translation.

Board of Health: Doctors have to perform in space suit

Authority regrets that patients with pig-MRSA feel stigmatized.

SIGNE THOMSEN Report and on duty.

When shed workers and other people who are infected with the multidrug-resistant swine bacterium MRSA CC398 are admitted to hospitals throughout the country, is there a special procedure in
time.

When operating personnel have extra protection - a sort of space suit - on and on planned operations put the patient at any time as the last of the day's program, so the room can be extra clean by the patient.

During admission, he or she receives an isolated room with private toilet and will be instructed not to move around the hospital.

Skilled farmer Kenneth Sorensen, 33, was due to his past work in a pigsty permanent carrier of the bacteria for two years, and several times he experienced at the hospital to be exposed to the guard, to be undertaken when a MRSA-infected being hospitalized.

"I felt that I was treated like one with plague. The doctors stood in the space suit with visor, and no shook hands with me. Both my boyfriend and I were shocked by the reaction of the hospital staff, "he said earlier today in an article in Politiken.

But it can not be otherwise, is the message from the Health Protection Agency.

"We take it very seriously with the risk of stigma and discrimination... 

Denmark - MRSA - Working with pigs not treatable.

Working with pigs has become an un-treatable disease.

That includes veterinarians working with pigs, something we have highlighted for quite some years now.

Mechanical translation from the Danish, which should be read in full here.

The authorities do not recommend treatment of MRSA-infected

People who work with pigs have to live with pigs bacterium MRSA if they continue to work in the barn.

A large portion of the approximately 9,000 people who fit Denmark more than 12 million slaughter pigs infected with the multidrug-resistant swine bacterium MRSA CC398.
But they are forced to live with the infection as long as they work in a barn with infected pigs. It writes Politiken Tuesday.

People who work with pigs, get rid of the bacteria undergoing a five-day disinfection with antibiotic ointment and chlorhexidine hydrochloride soap, but it provides according to the authorities does not make sense to put shed workers at the same cure...

...Board of Health states in their recommendations to physicians that "people who have daily or regular contact with pigs, the only undergo treatment to remove bacteria, if they stop getting in the stables." It is according to the newspaper in 'Guidance on preventing the spread of MRSA' .

At 3F, which organizes employees at the country's pig farms, Lars Mark Jensen, group leader in Aalborg, furious on behalf of its members...

...He knows of at least 10 employees who have chosen to resign because of MRSA.,,

...Employees' families and associates must also live with the risk of becoming infected with the bacterium that not only contagious from pigs to humans, but also from person to person...

Denmark - MRSA experts: New course for pig infection must be followed

The Danes can look on the bright side, at least they recognise they have a problem.

Britain's veterinary establishment has hidden up the same problem for many years.

So, the senior government veterinarians running the shambles that is animal and related public health in Britain have to be called to account and removed from positions of responsibility quickly.

Be sure to read in full here, there is a timeline of the development of the growing scandal in Denmark.

MRSA experts: New course for pig infection must be followed

Food Minister's change of course in the fight against the spread of swine MRSA is welcomed by the country's experts in resistant bacteria. But the new measures must be followed by action, says experts.

By Helle Maigaard Erhardsen September 7, 2014 

Food Minister Dan Jorgensen during a visit to a pig in July. In late August, he put on a consultation for increased efforts to combat the spread of swine MRSA...

... But the new measures must be followed by action, says experts.

By Helle Maigaard Erhardsen September 7, 2014 at. 14:00

Ban visits to MRSA-infected pig farms, screening of all breeding herds and research to uncover the antibiotic-resistant stafylokokbakteries routes of transmission.

There were new tones from Health Minister Nick Hækkerup (S) and Food Minister Dan Jørgensen (S) August 27, when they were both summoned to consultation in parliament to explain the response to the increasing incidence of pig-MRSA in humans...

How come MRSA CC398 on the agenda...

...But it has a long way before the food minister's new approach will lead to a reduction of the widespread swine bacterial, says Hans Jørn Kolmos: "It is clearly a step that Dan Jørgensen now have realized that they must know the routes of infection, before anything can be done. But then they must also be prepared to act on the new knowledge that may
come, "he said.

Opens screening

Yvonne Agersø who is a senior researcher at DTU's Department of Epidemiology and genomic microbiology, food also welcome the Minister's new approach to combating welcome. She is one of the scientists who have recommended the screening of breeding herds, which is now being introduced:
"The problem is just not resolved by screening the 27 herds.So, we are investigating further down the production joints to find out whether the infection will continue, "says Yvonne Agersø.

Since she in 2012 became part of the Government working to combat MRSA, the changing food ministers refused to check and thereby eliminate or stop the bacteria were spread already in the first part of the pig production...

...But although the minister now opens the 27 barn doors in breeding herds for testing, he maintains still that only two percent of the remaining pig farms - some 200 crews - are going to have a sample. Another member of the MRSA Working Group, Jens Peter Nielsen,
Professor of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Copenhagen, also welcome his recommendation on screening of breeding herds are now being accepted.

Routes of infection must be investigated

The studies of bacterial infection routes, as the minister announced at the conciliation must also first organized by the National Veterinary Institute DTU, according to the Ministry of Food. At the consultation meeting said Dan Jørgensen, however, a number of areas that would be important to examine. It is, for example, how much bacteria is spread when animals are transported on manure and dust from the facility can transmit the infection and whether it matters if the farms are close or scattered.
These areas have all been unknown factors that the Food Ministry has referred to as a reason for not putting directly into the barns to fight infection among pigs before the bacteria are transmitted to humans...

...Prof. Dr. Hans Jørn Kolmos is surprised that the minister did not also proposes to examine the possibility of infection through pork. Food Administration, by 2011, examined the prevalence of bacteria in meat, but is otherwise not assume that pork poses a risk of infection, as all who eat it, otherwise they would be infected, says the rationale of the Board.

"The greater prevalence in meat, the greater will be the risk of infection. In 2011, 10 percent of Danish-produced pork contaminated with MRSA, but what is the situation today? "Hans Jørn Kolmos.

Another expert in resistant bacteria, a professor at DTU Food Frank Møller Aarestrup, has also sought clarification of pork infection risk. He, however, express concern about the research projects will be a way to postpone action on.

'If it just ends up in research without any real attempt at reducing the infection will not improve health,' he wrote in an email to the engineer.

Denmark - MRSA cc398 in mink.

A slightly confused report, from an unusual source, but obviously MRSA cc398 has spread far and wide in Denmark, presumably from the pig industry.

Full report is here. It is, of course, a mechanical translation.

DTU: We do not know a bell on MRSA in mink

September 4, 2014

"We know that MRSA is present in mink, but we do not know a bell on the scale. We would like to have considered. " 

So says specialist and veterinarian at the National Veterinary Institute Mariann Chriél who last year sought funding for a study of the prevalence of the resistant bacteria MRSA CC398, called pig MRSA in mink...

Did MRSA in two samples

According to Mariann Chriél it is necessary to examine the prevalence of MRSA in mink.

"There is an assumption that MRSA in mink is a problem, but we do not know, so that's why we need to know the extent," she says.

All she currently knows for sure is that DTU last fall found MRSA in two isolates from mink, which were submitted by veterinarians as part of the general resistance surveillance that DTU make.

"But we can not conclude anything on the basis of," she says. In the autumn of last year, it also emerged that since 2009 has registered 25 cases where people have been infected with MRSA bacteria from mink farms. 15 of the cases came from North Jutland - probably because the authorities here have made a more thorough check.There are over 15 million mink in Denmark. 

The largest part of the Danish mink productiontakes place in Jutland: 41.3 percent in Region Midtjylland and 30.4 percent in North Jutland...

British VMD warns veterinarians over antibiotics

We are not very enthusiastic about veterinary self-regulation, under a royal charter, in Britain.

The veterinary record is appalling, in recent years, with animal disease endangering  the human population, and antibiotic resistance spreading under a cover of spin, secrecy and bullying.

Britain has had too many animal and zoonotic disease epidemics to have any confidence in the existing failing veterinary regime.

The (British) Veterinary Medicines Directorate seems to be veterinarians, operating under Defra licence, attempting to keep an often arrogant profession operating legally.

However, they have recently reminded private veterinarians they might get sued if they wrongly prescribe antibiotics.

They should not need warning.

Still, the VMD have warned the private veterinarians they might face an action for compensation if they do not follow the prescribing guidelines and make some vague effort to codify the guidelines.

Although it is very unimpressive, mostly hot air and shifting responsibility, the fact that they have issued a reminder of an existing warning is real progress.

So, when the writer regularly reminds veterinarians and their cronies that "they might get their pants sued off," he is reflecting a very real risk recognised by the government.

They need to start by making sure the true level of MRSA st398 in pigs is admitted and the longevity of the problem.

There will be a massive row, but an open admission would mitigate the fall-out.

It might also save a few human lives, even their own and that's not to be sniffed at.

 The VMD warning on the Defra website is here.  Be sure to read in full

"…The current guidance on the use of the Cascade (VMGN No. 13) states
that: 

In departing from the clinical particulars on the SPC the veterinary surgeon must  balance the benefits against the risks of doing so and thus take responsibility for their  clinical decision. The potential benefits of using the product are usually obvious but the  risks may not be. Risk could relate to the animal, the owner or person administering  the product, consumers (where veterinary medicine residues in food might be  affected), the environment and even wider public health (for example where increased  selection for antimicrobial resistance might be the outcome). Any departure from the SPC must be considered carefully as the advice and warnings given are there for good  reason and based on assessed data. To ignore or disregard them without due care  and thought would be inappropriate and, if something goes wrong with the treatment,  could lay the veterinary surgeon open to litigation…"

Denmark - MRSA cc398 - Filthy pig that will cost lives

Many in rural Britain are not that keen on the "Green Blob" and its damaging habit of putting animals and hobbyists before public health and farmers, even creating taxpayer funded operations to do so. But the WWF has serious influence in Britain.

Prince Philip was the first President of World Wildlife Fund - UK (WWF) from its formation in 1961 to 1982, and International President of WWF (later the World Wide Fund for Nature) from 1981 to 1996. He is now President Emeritus of WWF.

The Danish WWF, with blunt words,  join their Ombudsman, in wanting the infected farms identified.

As always, read the mechanical translation of the Danish WWF report in full here.

Filthy pig that will cost lives

 September 3, 2014 

Board Posts by Gitte Seeberg, Secretary General of WWF, brought by Christian Daily 2 September. 

Something rivravruskende wrong when thousands of people unaware of being infected - and die - as a result of agricultural practices.

Last week, one could in newspapers read that between 6,000 and 12,000 Danes ignorant goes around and is infected by the multidrug-resistant swine bacterium MRSA CC398. 

At the same time, it has been determined that it would be 'naive' to imagine that there are several Danes who will die of infection . Already, at least four died of swine bacterium. In all four cases, these are people who have had no contact with pigs. 

Tell me again - how we have come so far? The Danish agricultural costing lives. People who do not have anything to agricultural production to do. Instead of producing food that makes us healthier, we die now of a disease that spreads from the pigs we eat...

... Tell the bereaved whose loved ones have died of infection from pigs in jam-packed piggeries where efficiency and utilization, everyday life. The only good thing there is to say about the unfortunate situation that many people in this country now finds itself in is that maybe and hopefully get our politicians eyes to what is going on in the Danish pig farms. And get them to do something about it...

... Therefore, we now require that agriculture plays with wide open maps and explains the different stocks affected by MRSA. We can not live with another.