The Danes suspect that 398 was originally human and wonder what sparked it’s increasing drug resistance. This article gives a good overview of the science to date.
With our current knowledge it seems quite evident that ST398 is a MRSA clone transmitted from pigs to humans; its origin is unknown, though it seems probable that it – or its antecedents – will have originated in humans. Further studies are underway in several countries, but it seems likely that MRSA ST398 are widespread in the pig populations, in at least the Netherlands and Denmark, but most likely in all European countries with intensive swine production. ST398 is mainly found to colonise animals, but have in a few cases been found to cause infections. The limited number of reports is probably due to the difficulties of isolating this bacterium from animals because it is necessary to use selective enrichment. It must be expected that several new reports will be published in the near future. The reason for the colonization of MRSA ST398 in pigs or the epidemiology of this clone is currently not known; it possibly first emerged in 2003, as it was not detected in 2002 in the human monitoring being done in Holland, or in monitoring from 1992-2003 of human isolates in Germany. It can be speculated that the use of cephalosporins and other antibiotics have provided a niche for this clone, but until further studies are carried out this is merely speculation
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