CDC: MRSA not from food animals.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), claims that food animals, such as pigs, are increasingly the source of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria in humans are greatly exaggerated. In a recent letter to Rep. Collin Peterson, D-MN, agriculture committee chairman, CDC said if transmission of MRSA from food animals to people occurs, "it likely accounts for a very small proportion of human infections in the United States."

Studies conducted in Canada and the Netherlands found MRSA in pigs and pork producers on some farms. Citing those studies, several newspaper articles and editorials have attempted to link pigs, pork products, and the use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry with the recent rise in MRSA-related illnesses. The Dutch food safety authority, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, conducted a risk assessment in the Netherlands and concluded that the MRSA present in food animals, such as pigs, is not a food safety threat. CDC pointed out that 80% of life-threatening MRSA infections appear to be the result of patient-to-patient transmission in inpatient health care facilities. Furthermore, the "vast majority" of community-associated infections result from person-to-person transmission, CDC said. The agency also pointed out that it has conducted numerous investigations of community-associated MRSA outbreaks, and "in none of these investigations has animal exposure been identified as a risk factor for infection." CDC has several infection surveillance programs for monitoring MRSA, including the Emerging Infections Program and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.