New MRSA superbug strain found in UK milk

[Still Waters]

A new strain of MRSA has been found in British milk, indicating that the superbug is spreading through the livestock population and poses a growing threat to human health.

The new strain, MRSA ST398, has been identified in seven samples of bulk milk from five different farms in England.

The discovery, from tests on 1,500 samples, indicates that antibiotic-resistant organisms are gaining an increasing hold in the dairy industry.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/new-mrsa-superbug-strain-found-in-uk-milk-supply-8431187.html

[Coffey]

this corporate farming is a disgrace. It needs to change.

[Ashotep]

The day is going to come when antibiotics won't do us any good because of overuse and as the world becomes more populated we will also be squeezed into more cramped conditions.

There are already diseases that antibiotics aren't helping that they use to.

[AsteroidX]

wouldnt be GMO milk would it ?

[Paracelse]

Put a frog in it! hehehe

[Insaniac]

It all seems to fit into the depopulation plan.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

wouldnt be GMO milk would it ?

The conspiracy minded part of me suggests that we're soon going to be told that GM milk will be the solution - "we've discovered a strain of cross-bred cow that can't be infected with MRSA" yadda yadda yadda

[stevewinn]

All varieties of milk go through a heat process to kill bacteria/ viruses - so would the MRSA still be present after the heating process? i only use sterilised milk anyway due to the fact they It goes through a more severe form of heat treatment, heated to a temperature of between 110-130ºC for approximately 10-30 minutes. hopefully that'll kill any nasties.

[Mr Right Wing]

All varieties of milk go through a heat process to kill bacteria/ viruses - so would the MRSA still be present after the heating process? i only use sterilised milk anyway due to the fact they It goes through a more severe form of heat treatment, heated to a temperature of between 110-130ºC for approximately 10-30 minutes. hopefully that'll kill any nasties.

I cant drink UHT it tasks like muck lol. The heating process destroys most of the nutrients too.

They need to stop using antibotics for everything. It leads to generations of animals and humans which cant fight off disease because natural selection didnt remove the inferior genes from the gene pool. The more dependant animals and humans become on antibotics the more chance for the germs to adapt sending us up the creek without a paddle.

[stevewinn]

I cant drink UHT it tasks like muck lol. The heating process destroys most of the nutrients too.

They need to stop using antibotics for everything. It leads to generations of animals and humans which cant fight off disease because natural selection didnt remove the inferior genes from the gene pool. The more dependant animals and humans become on antibotics the more chance for the germs to adapt sending us up the creek without a paddle.

you're spot on, but its not going to change because of the numbers involved and money in todays farming. i've said it before bacteria and virus are the speed champions of evolution.

[spud the mackem]

It would seem that everytime we come up with an antibiotic to combat a virus,it only lasts a short while then up pops a new "super", virus that the original antibiotic has no value over it,so how long can we continue doing this before virus strains have evolved/ mutated to a degree that they cannot be stopped.Unless the scientists come up with something, the Human Race will be taken out for good Sooner than later.unless of course a few of us "emigrate" and start again , as this planet is becoming uninhabitable for Humans.

Edited December 27, 2012 by spud the mackem

[smurf0852]

the problem here is greed from farmers .they dose there livestock with antibiotics as a matter of course to prevent them from becoming ill which can stunt growth or cause the death of a valuble animal .the problem is it them passes immunity to bacteria that can infect humans or pass antibiotics in low doses through the food chain.

we need to stop supplying farmers with antibiotics to save the human population before our only real weapon against bacteria is destroyed by greed.

[pallidin]

Well, this is a disturbing story.

[A rather obscure Bassoon]

Maybe we should start by not putting animal matter into animal feed.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5499516_animal-byproducts-used-livestock-feed.html

Every animal based product we eat today increases the chances of of us Humans being wiped out.As disease crosses between species it can mutate into more dangerous strains and combined with their new found immunity to Anti-Biotics,we are sitting on a time bomb.

[+and-then]

Maybe we should start by not putting animal matter into animal feed.

http://www.ehow.com/...stock-feed.html

Every animal based product we eat today increases the chances of of us Humans being wiped out.As disease crosses between species it can mutate into more dangerous strains and combined with their new found immunity to Anti-Biotics,we are sitting on a time bomb.

Maybe we should start by not putting animal matter into animal feed.

http://www.ehow.com/...stock-feed.html

Every animal based product we eat today increases the chances of of us Humans being wiped out.As disease crosses between species it can mutate into more dangerous strains and combined with their new found immunity to Anti-Biotics,we are sitting on a time bomb.

Agreed but I'd add that the bomb doesn't have to be manmade. Nature's been known to throw some pretty devastating things our way too. The 1918 pandemic flu was an horrific case in point. If one started today and killed off the same % of people it would cause a global economic breakdown all by itself. We know from history that these things come around in cycles - and we're due. It's a nasty way to go as well.

[AsteroidX]

It would seem that everytime we come up with an antibiotic to combat a virus,it only lasts a short while then up pops a new "super", virus that the original antibiotic has no value over it,so how long can we continue doing this before virus strains have evolved/ mutated to a degree that they cannot be stopped.

True. There alot to be said for not putting stuff into your foodsupply you cant kill off.

[stevewinn]

bacteria is not all bad, in fact bacteria can be seen as mans friend. they colonise our bodies both inside and out, indeed if it wasnt for bacteria we'd be living in waste with nothing to break it down. when you think every living thing is in a constant stand off with bacteria, i wonder if bacteria or a virus as ever made a species go extinct? i doubt it, you always have the ones who survive. natural selection. but then we value life and so the antibiotics will be forever used. Penicillin must be the most widely used antibiotic and its still going strong after 60+ odd years. resistance as increased but not to the point were its ineffective.

Edited December 28, 2012 by stevewinn

[A rather obscure Bassoon]

Agreed but I'd add that the bomb doesn't have to be manmade. Nature's been known to throw some pretty devastating things our way too. The 1918 pandemic flu was an horrific case in point. If one started today and killed off the same % of people it would cause a global economic breakdown all by itself. We know from history that these things come around in cycles - and we're due. It's a nasty way to go as well.

Agreed but as you know Flu pandemics are usually more selective i:e the Spanish Flu killed younger people,mainly because of their own immune system response to the virus.Resulting in their lungs filling up with fluid and then drowning on their own body fluids.Bacterial pandemics would be more devestating and less selective,killing a vastly higher proportion of people.The Black Death in the middle ages springs to mind.

Edited December 28, 2012 by shaddow134

[Mr Right Wing]

the problem here is greed from farmers .they dose there livestock with antibiotics as a matter of course to prevent them from becoming ill which can stunt growth or cause the death of a valuble animal .the problem is it them passes immunity to bacteria that can infect humans or pass antibiotics in low doses through the food chain.

we need to stop supplying farmers with antibiotics to save the human population before our only real weapon against bacteria is destroyed by greed.

The average customer goes to the supermarket with the cheapest goods. Supermarkets drive down their prices by paying farmers and other suppliers less for their products. In the UK most farmers struggle to make a living and are far from being the negative greedy corrupt individuals you like to think they are.

I can remember one old chap with a funny square shaped moustache engaging in a public hygiene program. It involved sterilising anyone with a heriditory condition. If we had carried on doing it here instead of stopping after the horrors of WW2 we'd have no broken society, no paedophiles, no criminals, no people with an IQ so low they can only be stamp-lickers and no disease. Okay it wouldnt be quite no but it would be low.

When the plague comes for us we know who to blame. Those goody two shoes who cant look to the future.

Edited December 28, 2012 by Mr Right Wing

[Farmerboy]

the problem here is greed from farmers .they dose there livestock with antibiotics as a matter of course to prevent them from becoming ill which can stunt growth or cause the death of a valuble animal .the problem is it them passes immunity to bacteria that can infect humans or pass antibiotics in low doses through the food chain.

we need to stop supplying farmers with antibiotics to save the human population before our only real weapon against bacteria is destroyed by greed.

You mean the greed of the consumer surely?

Farmers are stuck between a rock and a hard place, not getting paid enough for produce whilst trying to make ends meet and look after the stock. Mastitis is just a fact of life in the dairy industy, caused by a variety of genetic and environmental factors. If left untreated the animals suffers.

The MRSA shouldn't affect the public as it is killed off in pasteurisation. As to antibiotics in the milk, there is withdrawl periods where the milk is discarded, and daily testing of bulk samples for antibotics which if found either the lorry load or any products made from the batch are disposed of and the farmer fined.

I suppose if there were no antibiotics everyone would be claiming how evil farmers are, letting infections run untreated and animals suffering from diseases left unchecked,. Damned if we do, damned if we don't.....

[Urisk]

I would have thought pasteurisation would kill off this bug?

Also from what I gather it's not antibiotic use that's the problem, it's antibiotic misuse. I could be wrong.

this corporate farming is a disgrace. It needs to change.

We the taxpayers have been supporting poor farming practice for years. If the practices were good, then farmers wouldn't have to rely on subsidies, would they? That's the problem. Exactly the same with badgers. It's not the badgers that's the problem with TB, it's the stupidly enclosed conditions the coos are subjected to. Cattle are meant to be free-roaming herding animals with plenty of space.... yet we've bred them to buggery that they seem to need to be stuffed into shoeboxes in the winter? Really?

[Farmerboy]

I would have thought pasteurisation would kill off this bug?

Also from what I gather it's not antibiotic use that's the problem, it's antibiotic misuse. I could be wrong.

We the taxpayers have been supporting poor farming practice for years. If the practices were good, then farmers wouldn't have to rely on subsidies, would they? That's the problem. Exactly the same with badgers. It's not the badgers that's the problem with TB, it's the stupidly enclosed conditions the coos are subjected to. Cattle are meant to be free-roaming herding animals with plenty of space.... yet we've bred them to buggery that they seem to need to be stuffed into shoeboxes in the winter? Really?

Not giving the proper dosages, eg giving too little letting the resistant ones survive, is the problem although most farmers do things right, there are a few which mess things up. Remember these antibiotics are expensive, farmers want to do things right the first time, too much is a waste and too little, the problem doesnt get sorted.

The average taxpayer has no idea what happens on the farms because they have little or no contact with the industry and the only time they hear about it is in regards to something bad on the news which is the minority.

Farmers rely on subsidies because we work 365 days of the year and we get pittance for our produce. For a while there dairy farmers made a loss on every litre of milk. Farmers have to pay for meal, fertiliser, winter fodder, water, new stock, animasl health, maintain their land, facilities and machinery and still make enough to feed their family and themselves.

The main reason cattle are housed in winter is because of the weather, its cold and wet which means the grass doesnt grow and the cows tramp the field into oblivion which leaves the ground in a poor state the next season. I we left them out they would be starving the next year as the ground would have no time to recover.The winter housing has at least a stall per animal and pleanty of room to move around, its not perfect but its all we have to work with, and its better than the cows wading up to their bellies in muck and calves getting pneumonia.

The one of the real troubles with the badgers is the accuracy of the tests, its litteraly 50/50. The number of animals which test positive and when slaughtered are clear of tb and the number which test negative and are full of tb and free to spread it are massive.

[Urisk]

Perhaps I sounded a bit damning with my opinions on farmers, and I should clarify (although I am a little wary, as i have a friend who has tried to organically rear shetland sheep for meadow management but can't get land, and instead relies on favours of land from a few people, as it all appears to be tied up in land deeds or something, which are bought and sold and traded?). I could be wrong about this, I'm going from memory here.

I fully understand the pressure farmers feel as a result of supply and demand. The trappings of the modern world has put the farmers in such a difficult position, but I still can't help but feel that current methods are not the best practice. The government should do more to fund helping achieve better practices, or perhaps people should just eat a little less meat? Fairer prices for meat and animal products in the shops? Might make people think more wisely about what they do with their food.

Things like SRDP here in Scotland are a good call, but I can't help but feel it's used just as a way to get money by chucking a few trees in here and there- Maybe the focus should be on more sustainable practices; perhaps with a shift towards more biodynamic practices (ie using companion plants as opposed to pestacides etc, etc).

[Farmerboy]

I think we can all agree that fairer prices would be a good start More expensive meat means the farmer could exist on fewer animals and the public eat less. I think things are a bit different here in Northern Ireland, things are still pretty old fashioned, but the more intensive side is creeping in. Something need to be done to kill factory farming in the UK before it gets worse, maybe some legislation in regards to the ratio of land owned to the numbers of animals kept. I think this would also help in regards to welfare and diseases by lowering stocking density.

If anything its the goverment thats driving poor practices, the high ups have no knowledge of farming, the last couple of ministers for agriculture that I know of over here were from the towns. With the TB its the government and the unions pushing the cull.

We have similar programmes here, planting trees, farm modernisaton etc but it can be very hit and miss. There was a scheme recently giving a grant for new machinery, we applied to get a new trailer (ours is falling to bits) and we got rejected, yet the hobby farmer up the road with no land (he uses our land in the winter and that of other farmers) and 4 or 5 sheep got a trailer, a log splitter everything he wanted even though he didnt need it.

[Urisk]

Let's face it man, the government has no knowledge of anything that affects us, the people. They're all public schoolboys and therefore wired to the moon! Yeah farming practices here are pretty dire, and you're right it is because of the government, but I actually blame everyone. Consumers as well, following supermarkets, and I'd imagine there's a bit of greed of a lot of farmers (not all) who buckled and let it happen. We're all guilty for the state of the countryside these days. Sad really