Campaigners in the UK yesterday called for urgent tests on the nation's farm animals after the emergence of a new strain of MRSA which has spread rapidly among farmers in Europe, causing an array of serious infections.
The drug-resistant bug is thought to have arisen in pigs fed antibiotics to protect them against farm-borne diseases and boost their growth. The emergence of the new strain backs up fears voiced by some experts that the heavy use of antibiotics in farm animals could lead to a drug-resistant bug capable of infecting humans.
The strain of staphylococcus aureus, known as ST398, is resistant to commonly used antibiotics and has caused skin infections and rare heart and bone infections in patients in the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Germany.
A report published yesterday by the UK organic farming organization, the Soil Association, says the superbug represents a new threat to human health.
It urged the government to introduce immediate screening of national livestock and strict testing of imported meat products and animals from affected regions, to prevent the superbug spreading to Britain.
The report reveals the swift spread of the new MRSA strain, which tested positive in 39 percent of pigs at nine abattoirs in the Netherlands last year. A further survey identified the strain in 13 percent of Dutch calves.
Medical officials found that 50 percent of Dutch farmers were carriers of the strain, a prevalence 1,500 times higher than the rest of the population. In one pig farming region 80 percent of all MRSA cases are now caused by the farm animal strain.
A survey by the Dutch food and consumer product safety authority last year found traces of the bug in 20 percent of pork meat, 21 percent of chicken meat and 3 percent of beef.
"It's going to get to the UK sooner or later, but the government is doing nothing to look for it," said Richard Young, a co-author of the report.
The document also recommends a screening program for farmers coming from European countries before they work with live animals.
The new strain was first detected two years ago in the Netherlands. A spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture said the government had commissioned research into the spread of the infection among animals.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
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