And it seems to be transferable between people and cows:
A new form of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been found in dairy cows and humans in the U.K. and Denmark, providing more evidence that animals could be passing this superbug on to people—not just the other way around.
[...] Even as hospital-acquired MRSA cases have been declining in many countries, including the U.S., cases picked up outside health care settings are on the rise. Some of these cases are likely transmitted from people who have been in contact with a medical setting and then passed MRSA along through a chain of others through a sneeze or skin contact.
And the new findings indicate to Smith “that there’s probably more movement of Staph aureus between people and animals than we’ve realized.”
[...] Could this strain also be lurking in the U.S.? “I would guess that it is,” Smith says. “If we turn over some rocks, I would guess that we would find it.” In Denmark, samples from each case of MRSA are collected, providing researchers with a comprehensive view of the disease landscape, but in the U.S. testing is more sporadic.
The new find highlights the need for more widespread testing and a detective hunt to find out where and when this strain emerged, Smith says. And the revelation that dairy herds can carry MRSA also underscores the importance of proper hygiene and animal care, Holmes noted. Full story…
And the very serious GOP wants to cut funding to the USDA and the FDA. The invisible hand will take care of the need for testing — certainly corporate farms and dairy and meat processing plants don’t need MORE regulations when they’re testing as often as sporadically.
This situation actually would be like a Circle of Win for the GOP:
- Sporadic testing + funding cuts to regulatory agencies = even LESS testing and regulation
- Therefore, more people may contract the new Staph infection + many without medical insurance = deaths
- Dead people who couldn’t afford medical care probably weren’t working anyway, so + less federal / state spending on UI benefits and food stamps = more money for extending tax cuts to the corporate farms and processing plants!
- oh, and JOBS! Somehow.
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