Farmworker Study Ties Drug-Resistant Staph To Animal Antibiotics

Staff Writer | Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) | July 4, 2013

Authors of a paper published online by the open-access journal PLOS ONE reported livestock-associated MRSA and multidrug-resistant staph linked to livestock were present only among workers exposed to industrial livestock operations.

Jul 04, 2013

A paper published July 2 by the peer-reviewed, open-access, online journal PLOS ONE raises more concern about the use of antibiotics in livestock.

They were examining the prevalence, antibiotic susceptibility, and molecular characteristics of as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and multidrug-resistant S. aureus (MDRSA) and their association with livestock.

While prevalance of S. aureus and MRSA was similar among ILO- and AFLO-exposed individuals, livestock-associated MRSA and MDRSA were present only among ILO-exposed individuals, they reported. "These findings support growing concern about antibiotics use and confinement in livestock production, raising questions about the potential for occupational exposure to an opportunistic and drug-resistant pathogen, which in other settings including hospitals and the community is of broad public health importance," their conclusion states.