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High Levels of MRSA Bacteria in Meat Products
Information provided by University of Iowa - Published: 2012-01-23
Retail pork products in the United States. have a higher prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA) than previously identified, according to new research by the University of Iowa College of Public Health and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
MRSA can occur in the environment and in raw meat products, and is estimated to cause around 185,000 cases of food poisoning each year.
The bacteria can also cause serious, life-threatening infections of the bloodstream, skin, lungs, and other organs. MRSA is resistant to a number of antibiotics.
The study, published Jan. 19 in the online science journal PLoS ONE, represents the largest sampling of raw meat products for MRSA contamination to date in the U.S.
The researchers collected 395 raw pork samples from 36 stores in Iowa, Minnesota, and New Jersey. Of these samples, 26 - or about 7 percent - carried MRSA.
"This study shows that the meat we buy in our grocery stores has a higher prevalence of staph than we originally thought," says lead study author Tara Smith, Ph.D., interim director of the UI Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases and assistant professor of epidemiology. "With this knowledge, we can start to recommend safer ways to handle raw meat products to make it safer for the consumer."
The study also found no significant difference in MRSA contamination between conventional pork products and those raised without antibiotics or antibiotic growth promotants.
"We were surprised to see no significant difference in antibiotic-free and conventionally produced pork," Smith says. "Though it's possible that this finding has more to do with the handling of the raw meat at the plant than the way the animals were raised, it's certainly worth exploring further."
To read the full findings from the study, visit:
http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0030092
Additional information about the Center for Emerging Infectious Disease can be found at:
www.public-health.uiowa.edu/CEID/index.html
More on Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy at:
http://www.iatp.org
STORY SOURCE:
University of Iowa College of Public Health Office of Communications and External Relations, 4257 Westlawn, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.
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- This web page is from the Disabled World MRSA Facts & Information section which provides: Information and facts on MRSA a deadly flesh eating bacteria or superbug that has claimed many lives globally each year.
- Hospital MRSA Efforts Study - Lessons learned from ICUs as they implemented evidence based practices to reduce Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in hospitals.
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- Test to Diagnose and Distinguish MRSA and MSSA - Blood Culture Test determines whether bacteria growing in a positive blood culture sample are MRSA or MSSA.
- MRSA - An Ongoing Epidemic - Brings critical attention to the global threat of MRSA healthcare-acquired infections and antimicrobial resistance.
- MRSA Infection - Mayo Clinic - Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes and treatment of this virulent staph infection.
- MRSA - Any strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that has developed resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, which include the penicillins (methicillin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin, oxacillin, etc.) and the cephalosporins.
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