Studies Suggest Just Handling Meat Can Spread MRSA
A couple weeks back, in "Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) --It's What's For Dinner!", we reported on a European study that those working closely with animals were most likely to contract MRSA.
Now, however, Stephanie Woodard, writing for Prevention Magazine on the MSNBC website, is claiming more of us are at risk because enough MRSA has found its way into retail cuts of pork, chicken and beef to make handling of meat dangerous.
Ms. Woodard writes that:
"You may not have the same close contact with meat that a processing plant worker has, but scientists warn there is reason for concern. Most of us handle meat daily, as we bread chicken cutlets, trim fat from pork, or form chopped beef into burgers. Cooking does kill the microbe, but MRSA thrives on skin, so you can contract it by touching infected raw meat when you have a cut on you hand, explains Stuart Levy, MD, a Tufts University professor of microbiology and medicine. MRSA also flourishes in nasal passages, so touching your nose after touching meat gives the bug another way to enter your body, adds University of Iowa Professor Tara Smith."
It was Professor Smith who in 2008 found a new MRSA strain, called ST398, in 45 percent of the farmers and 49 percent of the pigs in two large midwestern hog operations. The connection between animal and human health raised by the study still did not cause either state or federal government to inspect comprehensively for MRSA
Other studies have found MRSA in retail cuts of pork, chicken and beef sold in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. For example, according to Prevention, a Louisiana State University study tested 120 cuts of meat purchased at local retail outlets. MRSA was found in 4 percent of the pork cuts and 1 percent of the beef.
Check out the entire story at MSNBC.
Some people don't realize, that when hamburger is made, pork fat is used as a filler instead of beef fat. The pork fat does not stick to the roof of your mouth. People, who think they are only buying beef, may be surprised to find out that half their burger is actually pork. Therefore, you could be exposed to MRSA through your hamburger.
We have over 72 CAFOs in Yakima County, Washington State. We are where the "Mad Cow" case was found.Is anyone tracking cases of MRSA near dairy or cattle CAFOs?