A HARD-TO-TREAT bacterial infection that kills more Americans than AIDS was once limited to hospitals and nursing homes. But this staph infection is becomingly increasingly common in prisons, schools, and on sports teams. Now Canadian researchers have found methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, among pigs and workers on Canadian pig farms. Congress should insist that federal regulators develop a surveillance system to track the incidence of MSRA not just in healthcare facilities but on farms and other settings as well.
The Ontario study is no reason to boycott Canadian bacon. For one thing, cooking typically kills MRSA, which is usually transmitted through open wounds. The fact that MRSA was detected in Canada doesn't mean US pig farmers do not also have the problem. The Canadians deserve credit for looking for it. The US National Pork Board is funding a study of MRSA on farms, but US officials should be doing their own research. According to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, MRSA in 2005 caused 94,000 serious illnesses and 18,650 deaths, more than the 17,000 victims of AIDS.
A pig farm is a good place to look for MRSA because farmers load up pigs with antibiotics to promote growth and to prevent and treat disease. The Union of Concerned Scientists has estimated that 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States are in food additives for livestock and poultry. This indiscriminate use of the drugs has the unintended effect of breeding superbug bacteria like MSRA that are resistant to antibiotics.
Researchers have not yet proven that indiscriminate antibiotic use has caused the MRSA in the Canadian pigs, but the study should bolster support for the bill backed by Senator Edward Kennedy and others that would require the phasing out of the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in farm animals.
The alternative to excessive use of antibiotics on livestock is to let the animals grow more slowly in more hygienic conditions so that they are not so vulnerable to sicknesses. Europe bans antibiotics as a means of promoting growth, and many US livestock producers have stopped using them voluntarily.
The National Academy of Sciences has estimated that ending the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in poultry and livestock would add $5 to $10 to the average person's annual meat bill. That is a small price to pay to protect the limited store of antibiotics that are effective against lethal infections.
Overuse of antibiotics in animals is just one factor fostering resistant bacteria. Many doctors prescribe the drugs in cases for which they are not suited, and many patients fail to complete a full regimen of an antibiotic. These problems have to be addressed as well. Still, the easiest abuse to correct is down on the farm.The Boston Globe
