People who live near pig farms or farm fields fertilized with pig manure are more vulnerable to infections with Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to a study in the scientific journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
Better known under the name of Staphylococcus aureus, this bacterium is characterized by its resistance to an antibiotic, methicillin. It causes many infections or food poisoning.
Previous work has suggested that cattle ranchers are more at risk of being infected with MRSA than the rest of the population. But so far, no study has raised the risk of spreading this staph through spraying.
This new study looked at the incidence of infections in Pennsylvania, where fertilizer from pig dung is often sprayed on fields in accordance with state regulations.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, have found that people living next to farms or fields where pig manure is spread increase their risk of getting staph by 30%. Golden.
Further studies to come
“Many scientists believe that the use of antibiotics given to animals to encourage their growth at the same time fuels the overgrowth of MRSA and other drug-resistant bacteria,” said Joan Casey, environmental health scientist at this Baltimore hospital and co-author of the study. This latest study suggests that pig manure also contributes to the spread of this antibiotic resistance. “
Research will be continued in order to learn a little more about this phenomenon.
In 2010, the European Food Safety Authority estimated that 2010 that industrial pig, calf and chicken farms are the main animal reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant staphylococci.
