Research by the Soil Association reveals that a serious health threat already present in the Netherlands and other European countries, could spread to the UK. A new strain of MRSA has developed amongst intensively farmed animal on the continent, which has already transferred to farmers and their families in the Netherlands. Some 40% of Dutch pigs and 50% of pig farmers have been found to carry farm-animal MRSA.
Richard Young, Soil Association policy adviser said: “This new type of MRSA is spreading like wildfire. This is no time for official complacency, but a critical opportunity to prevent farm-animal MRSA getting a hold in the UK - so reducing risks to human health, costs to the NHS, already burdened by hospital-acquired MRSA, and avoiding another food-safety crisis.”
The association is calling on the government to instigate a testing programme, fully implement its claimed commitment to reducing the use of veterinary antibiotics, and screen all farm workers and vets coming into the UK from countries where farm-animal MRSA has been found.
