agriculture
mikethemadbiologist | February 5, 2008I think I was a little too optimistic about MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in pigs staying in pigs and not spreading to humans. A recent study in the Netherlands found that people exposed to pigs were 1000 times (yes, one thousand) more likely to be MRSA carriers than the general population, and the MRSA strain was usually the 'pig' strain.
What does this mean? The authors conclude:
After introduction of the new MRSA risk category in a hospital [Mad Biologist: screening those in contact with farm animals], which is located in a region with a relatively high density of…
mikethemadbiologist | January 22, 2008Yesterday, I posted about how feral pigs might be responsible for the spinach-associated E. coli O157:H7 outbreak. A while back, I described the epidemic spread of a new strain of MRSA throughout pigs in Europe. What was puzzling to me was why this MRSA strain, found at forty to sixty-fold greater frequency than all commensal MRSA in humans hadn't entered the human population. A recent paper in Emerging and Infectious Diseases lays out one possible reason--this strain of MRSA does not grow well on retail meat (which is thought to be a major conduit of strains from the farm to humans):
A…
mikethemadbiologist | January 21, 2008(Yes, it's LOLFeral Pigs)
A recent article in Emerging and Infectious Diseases just made the explanation of the E. coli spinach outbreak much more complex.
When the contaminated spinach story broke, there were a lot of accusations bandied about that this showed that either corporate factory farming was evil, or that organic farming (the farm was organic) was evil* (an aside: by now, it should be apparent to everyone that politicized public health and biological issues are often not discussed rationally or consistently). I'm no fan of corporate farming because the high densities of animals…
mikethemadbiologist | December 20, 2007By way of Amanda, I came across this NY Times op-ed by Michael Pollan that discusses the role of agribusiness' misuse of antibiotics in the rise community-acquired methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA). I've talked about the MRSA 'pig epidemic' before, and, Intelligent Designer knows I've talked about the misuse of antibiotics in agriculture, such as the attempt to get cefquinome approved for use in agriculture (Sack, met Mr. Stupid and Ms. Hammers). But I'm not sure that Pollan is correct about this.
The strain of CA-MRSA found in pigs is nothing like those found in healthy…
mikethemadbiologist | November 8, 2007The Charge of the Light MRSA Brigade
A few months ago, I discussed an article that demonstrated that pigs had ridiculously high frequencies of MRSA. ScienceBlogling Revere discusses another paper about pigs and MRSA. Like the previous study (published by some of the same authors), several of the same conclusions can be drawn:
These are astronomical rates of MRSA, relative to anything outside of a clinical setting--and the Netherlands' MRSA frequency is an order of magnitude lower than the U.S.
One piece of evidence argues for the hypothesis that the use of antibiotics in agriculture, either…
mikethemadbiologist | September 7, 2007We don't know if the virus is the causal agent, but a recent Science paper used a metagenomics approach to find that bees from colonies that have collapsed are infected with a virus (and it's the same virus in different colonies). Essentially, the researchers ground up bees, sequenced the whole mess, and using previous genome data, subtracted out the genome of the honey bees.
What was left were some bacterial symbionts, and in the failing colonies, a virus. From the BBC:
But in 2004, beekeepers began seeing and reporting a new and serious phenomenon, in which entire colonies would desert…
mikethemadbiologist | August 15, 2007By way of archcrone (via skippy), I came across this McClatchy article which discusses the massive inflation in food prices:
The Labor Department's most recent inflation data showed that U.S. food prices rose by 4.1 percent for the 12 months ending in June, but a deeper look at the numbers reveals that the price of milk, eggs and other essentials in the American diet are actually rising by double digits.
Already stung by a two-year rise in gasoline prices, American consumers now face sharply higher prices for foods they can't do without. This little-known fact may go a long way to explaining…
mikethemadbiologist | August 8, 2007MRSA is coming! Run for your lives!
....this little piggy had MRSA up its nose. A recent study from the Netherlands found that 39% of slaughtered pigs carried MRSA. This is particularly surprising since MRSA rates in hospitals in the Netherlands are remarkably low. Even in the U.S., the commensal MRSA frequency in humans is around 1.5%. What's up with the piggies? Here's the abstract; some additional comments afterwards:
Recently methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was isolated from pigs and pig farmers in The Netherlands. In order to assess the dissemination of MRSA in…
mikethemadbiologist | June 25, 2007Abandoned fourth century AD settlement. Photo by L. Laüt.
In the June 2007 issue of Ecology, Dambrine et al. have a fascinating article demonstrating that abandoned Roman settlements still affect the local abundance of plant communities. From the abstract (italics mine):
Combined archaeological and ecological investigations in a large ancient oak forest in Central France have revealed a dense network of ancient human settlements dating from the Roman period. We demonstrate a strong correlation between present-day forest plant diversity patterns and the location of Roman farm buildings.…
mikethemadbiologist | June 23, 2007Anything that lowers the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in agriculture is a good way to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance. Fromt he NY Times:
Tyson Foods, one of the nation's largest poultry producers, said yesterday that it would no longer use antibiotics to raise chicken sold fresh in stores and would start a $70 million advertising campaign to promote the shift.
The company said that fresh chicken raised without antibiotics was shipped to stores Monday and would be sold beginning later this week in packaging that emphasizes there are no artificial ingredients.
"We're…
mikethemadbiologist | May 27, 2007From Monday to Friday, I attended the American Society for Microbiology meeting held in Toronto. Before I get to some of the interesting science, my apologies to all of the people who suggested we meet up. Unfortunately, I never look at the blog (or almost never) while I'm on the road, so I missed your messages (it's best to email me directly). Anyway, here's the list of random things:
The E. coli responsible for the spinach outbreak is found in many feral swine. Hence, feral swine are a possible reservoir of E. coli O157:H7. Of course, feral pigs roaming around California in significant…
mikethemadbiologist | May 10, 2007More scary food news from China: Chinese catfish have been found to contain fluoroquinolone residues. Fluoroquinolones are medically important antibiotics and include ciprofloxacin ("Cipro") and enrofloxacin (which has been banned from agricultural use in the U.S.). Not only can fluoroquinolones be toxic and cause allergic reactions, but this means that China is probably still misusing these vital antibiotics. From the Clarion Ledger (italics mine):
Catfish contamination at some Mississippi grocery stores could indicate a much larger problem with the safety of imported foods, state…
mikethemadbiologist | April 10, 2007I've mentioned the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) before. Today, I'll be attending the NARMS public hearing which is going to discuss four questions:
1) Why, on this night
1) Are there inherent biases in the sampling strategies employed in NARMS? If so, how can they be improved to ensure that the data and interpretation are scientifically sound given current resources?
2) Are there epidemiological and/or microbiological research studies that would better serve the goals of NARMS and the regulatory work of FDA?
3) Are current plans for data harmonization and…
mikethemadbiologist | March 14, 2007Who would ever think that 'wastewater lagoons'--lakes full of animal shit--could be so interesting? And important in understanding how agricultural antibiotic use increases the frequency of antibiotic resistance genes.
A recent study looked at the abundance of tetracycline resistance genes in eight lagoons that stored cattle waste. Two of the lagoons were used with cattle that were never exposed to tetracycline. Two were 'mixed use', and four high use, where the cattle have been exposed to tetracycline (an aside: the lagoon from which the waste is used as fertilizer is a high use lagoon.…
mikethemadbiologist | February 8, 2007By way of Effect Measure, I came across this Consumer Reports article about bacterial contamination of chicken. The short version: I'm not convinced that the bacterial contamination problem has become worse--keep in mind, I'm not saying that bacterial contamination is not a problem, only that the problem has remained constant in scope.
A good comparison to the Consumer Reports ('CR') study is the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System ('NARMS') report. For almost ten years, NARMS has been collecting bacterial isolates nationwide from store-bought meat products, including…
mikethemadbiologist | December 5, 2006I don't have an answer, but the picture asks the question quite nicely:
(from here)
mikethemadbiologist | December 5, 2006I've posted before about the possible approval of cefquinome in agriculture, and why this is a stupid thing to even consider. So some colleagues and I got cranky and wrote a letter to the FDA.
Here's the letter:
Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.
Acting Commissioner
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fishers Lane,
Rockville MD 20857-000
Dear Acting Commissioner von Eschenbach,
We are writing to support the recommendation of the VMAC to reject and not approve the use of cefquinome, a fourth-generation cephalosporin antibiotic, for use in animal agriculture. One area that is critical in…
mikethemadbiologist | November 25, 2006One topic that I don't discuss enough is the role that the agricultural use of antibiotics plays in the evolution (and ecology) of antibiotic resistance. A recent review in Clinical Microbiology and Infection describes how the illegal use of nitrofuran antibiotics in Portugese agriculture led to an increase in highly virulent Salmonella.
What are nitrofurans? There are several different nitrofuran antibiotics (furazolidone, nitrofurazone, and nitrofurantoin), but the one drug some readers might have heard of (or taken) is nitrofurantoin, which is used to treat urinary tract infections, in…
mikethemadbiologist | November 24, 2006Here's some follow-up thoughts on my Salmonella-related moment of fame that I reposted yesterday
So while on vacation, I was mentioned in a NY Times article about diseases that can be caught from your fish tank. The moral of the story is when cleaning your fish tank, pretend it's toilet water, clean everything including the sink that comes in contact with the aquarium water, and you'll be fine. (Here's the Emerging and Infectious Disease article that led to the NY Times story).
I'm happy with the coverage: the issue of antibiotic resistance needs it. But one important message-that…
mikethemadbiologist | September 15, 2006
(from here)
There's been an outbreak of E. coli food poisoning due to contaminated lettuce. This gives me an opportunity to briefly talk about one of my favorite organisms, Escherichia coli. But first, from the AP:
Consumers nationwide should not eat fresh bagged spinach, say health officials probing a multistate outbreak of E. coli that killed at least one person and made dozens of others sick.
Food and Drug Administration and state officials don't know the cause of the outbreak, although raw, packaged spinach appears likely. "We're advising people not to eat it," said Dr. David Acheson…