Good science from the USA - PR puff and doubtful statistics misleading the world from Britain's corrupt government veterinarians and agricultural ministry - Defra.
See the last paragraph.
Zero percent in England (this should be Britain, or even the British Isles, not just England ), when you have not done the work, is just not credible.
Britain's corrupt veterinary establishment - an embarrassment and a very real danger to us all.
Full paper here
Published: May 7, 2013
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Pigs and Farm Workers on Conventional and Antibiotic-Free Swine Farms in the USA
Tara C. Smith.Wondwossen A. Gebreyes, Melanie J. Abley, Abby L. Harper, Brett M. Forshey, Michael J. Male, H. Wayne Martin, Bayleyegn Z. Moll, Srinand Sreevatsan, Siddhartha Thakur, Madhumathi Thiruvengadam, Peter R. Davies
Much uncertainty remains about the origin and public health implications of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA). This study aimed to investigate the occurrence and prevalence of MRSA in general and LA-MRSA in particular in pigs and farm workers in five states. We collected nasal swabs from pigs and farm workers at 45 swine herds (21 antibiotic-free herds; 24 conventional herds) in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina and Ohio. MRSA was isolated from 50 of 1085 pigs (4.6%) and 31 of 148 (20.9%) of farm workers. MRSA-positive pigs and people were clustered
in four conventional swine farms in Iowa and Illinois. Based on genotyping, spa type t034, a common livestock associated variant, was predominant among both human and swine isolates. These results confirm
the presence of LA-MRSA in pigs and swine farm workers in the USA, but the prevalence found is relatively low compared with European studies.
Citation: Smith TC, Gebreyes WA, Abley MJ, Harper AL, Forshey BM, et
al. (2013) Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Pigs and
Farm Workers on Conventional and Antibiotic-Free Swine Farms in the
USA. PLoS ONE 8(5): e63704. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063704
Editor: J. Ross Fitzgerald, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Received: August 1, 2012; Accepted: April 9, 2013; Published: May 7,
2013
Copyright: © 2013 Smith et al. This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source
are credited...
...Discussion
The emergence of LA-MRSA in major food animal species has raised numerous questions and concerns for public health and livestock industries. First identified in The Netherlands around 2004, these
organisms have since been found in swine herds in many European countries and also in North America [10], [11], [15]. Based on screening using farm dust samples, the prevalence of positive swine herds varied widely among European countries, from 0% in England, Ireland and Sweden, to over 41% in Germany and 51% in Spain [16]. As found in our study, within positive herds, prevalence of culture positive pigs is typically high (17% to 100% of pigs positive).
Initial studies in North America indicated that the prevalence of LA-MRSA in swine may be similar to that reported in Europe. In a convenience sample of 20 herds in Ontario, Khanna et al (2008) found 25% of 285 pigs and 20% (5 of 25) of swine farm workers were culture positive, with spa type t034 predominant [11]. Smith et al (2009) first documented the presence of LA-MRSA in the USA in one of two swine production systems studied, and found a high within-herd prevalence (70% of pigs) in the positive system [10]. Davies et al (in preparation) found LA-MRSA occurring in US swine veterinarians (5%) and in 25% of 539 market hogs from 45 herds slaughtered at major US packing plants, with t034 again being the most common spa type. Given the narrow scope of the study of Smith et al (2009) and the difficulty in interpreting data from market hogs due to the possibility of exposure during transport and lairage, further studies are required to
obtain more reliable estimates of the prevalence of MRSA in US livestock industries...
