A notorious bacterial foe has made its first documented appearance in the U.S. and is jumping species around the farm scene. First, MSRA—methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus— was found in chickens. Just recently, research conducted by ScienceBlogger Tara Smith from Aetiology found that ST398, a strain found in pigs, was also found in many of the humans who came into contact with the pigs at a large food production farm in Iowa. While this strain seems to spread readily between animals and humans, its potential for lethal infections is still unclear.
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I'm kidding, but ScienceBlogling Tara Smith has co-authored a PLoS One article about the emergence of the MRSA strain ST398 in Iowan pork farms. Pig farms are a tremendous reservoir of bacteria: as far as I can tell, there are about six pigs for every person in Iowa.
MRSA ST398 a methicillin…
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