MRSA &  BirdFlu would be a terrible combination. This itemis relevant to concerns that CAFO farming could be an MRSA superspreader

Over the weekend, I found this new report [PDF] by GRAIN that shows that the global poultry farming industry is, as I suspected, the primary cause of H5N1 avian influenza, NOT wild birds and backyard free-range poultry farmers as is so widely reported by the media. Further, this report claims that the probable cause for the increased lethality of the avian influenza virus is a direct result of the horrible conditions perpetuated by poultry industry (as I have stated).

This linked report is quite long, but it is important because it claims that the primary source for avian influenza is, and has been, the commercial poultry industry.

Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted): Avian Influenza: A Story About Industrial Fowl Play?.

Here is some of the science of the antibiotic resistance cycle. Click the link for the full paper.

Evidence of resistance associated with antimicrobial growth promotants has been emerging over the past three decades. Tetracycline-resistant organisms were found in 1976 in chickens raised on feed supplemented with tetracycline, a human-use antibiotic. In a prospective study of 11 poultry farm members and 24 neighbors, Levy and co-workers (1976a) found that before the use of tetracycline on the farm neither the farmers nor the animals were positive for tetracyclineresistant intestinal flora. Within 5 months of the introduction of tetracycline in the poultry feed, 31.3% of fecal samples from farm members harbored intestinal flora that were resistant to tetracycline even though none had been treated clinically with tetracycline. Tetracycline-resistant bacteria were found in only 6.8% of the samples from neighbors

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Very worrying sentence here – MRSA embedded in the processing chain – this also does not bode well for poultry workers who could become superspreaders

Suprisingly, most nt-MRSA is found in turkey and chicken (31 and 27% respectively). With live animals, the bacteria is only found in pigs and calves. “The figures also surprised me. My first thoughts were that it can be spread through processing,” according to MRSA-specialist, Arie van Nes, from the Faculty of Animal Health in Utrecht.

MRSA has not been found in live poultry yet. The animal health authority has confirmed that 50% of animals on pig farms are infected with the bacteria. As regards the level of infection on cattle farms, the figure is not yet known, but is under research.

Pig Progress | Pig News | 11% pork is contaminated with MRSA bacteria.

This is a factor that must be considered when tracking the spread of the disease. The comments below about bird flu are instructive.

Locating large chicken farms near cities might make economic sense, but the close concentration of the birds to densely populated areas can help foster and spread disease, Nierenberg says. In Laos, 42 of the 45 outbreaks of avian flu in the spring of 2004 occurred on factory farms, and 38 were in the capital, Vientiane (the few small farms in the city where outbreaks occurred were located close to commercial operations). In Nigeria, the first cases of avian flu were found in an industrial broiler operation; it spread from that 46,000-bird farm to 30 other factory farms, then quickly to neighboring backyard flocks, forcing already-poor farmers to kill their chickens.

Due mainly to the spread of avian flu and the culling of birds, global poultry output rose only slightly in 2006 to approximately 83 million tons, roughly a 1-percent decrease from the preceding year. Pig meat production, however, grew by 3 percent to 108 million tons, an increase likely due to shifting consumption in Asia from chicken to pork due to concerns about avian flu.

Avian flu has existed among backyard flocks for centuries, but has never been found to evolve there into highly pathogenic forms such as the deadly H5N1 virus. In CAFOs, in contrast, where animals are concentrated by the thousands, diseases erupt and spread quickly. Trade in poultry from these operations is a culprit in spreading the disease to smallholder farmers.

New Meat Byproducts: Avian Flu and Global Climate Change | Worldwatch Institute.

The UK national media are worrying away at this story and are biding their time awaiting testing being done on pig herds.

In June, the Mail revealed how a deadly strain of an MRSA superbug found in pigs had been transmitted to humans in the UK.

The MRSA strain, ST398, which has been linked to deaths from pneumonia, has been found in pigs, meat and humans on the Continent.

It was first identified in the Netherlands as recently as 2003, where it is now responsible for 30 per cent of all human cases.

A number of limited surveys on the Continent and in the UK have apparently found the bug in raw pork and chicken.

Mr Young said: ‘The use of antibiotics is a cornerstone of intensive livestock production and because this is such an enormous industry there will inevitably be a reluctance to change.

‘No one wants to stop farmers using antibiotics when they are genuinely needed.

‘However, there are a number of very serious problems now developing and the evidence increasingly suggests that food is part of the problem.

‘As such we need an urgent review of the overall situation with clear recommendations to prevent an impending crisis.’

Experts at the European Food Safety Authority have called for a Europe-wide review of safety regimes to tackle the growing menace of food superbugs.

Why factory farms are to blame for new superbugs | Mail Online.