A paper published recently in JAMA Internal Medicine found that people who live near pig farms or fields fertilized with pig manure are more likely to contract methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria – also known as MRSA.
MRSA is a bacterium that causes infections, often of the skin, but that can also infect the lungs, bloodstream, or urinary tract. While many MRSA infections are not serious, they can become life-threatening because they are difficult to treat and resistant to many common antibiotics.
The study examined health records of patients who sought medical care from the Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania from 2005 to 2010. Researchers calculated patients’ exposure to manure based on their proximity to farms, the size of the farms, and how much manure was used at the farms. Those with the highest exposure to manure were up to 38% more likely to contract MRSA.
Joan Casey is an environmental health scientist at Johns Hopkins University and co-author of the study:
“The long term goal would be to stop using antibiotics in animal feed. To me, it’s a little bit like using a space ship to fly people from Baltimore to Washington D.C. It’s this extreme measure, and then when we need the spaceship to go to the moon, we have no more rocket fuel. So it’s the same thing with antibiotics. We’re using tons of antibiotics – 80% of the ones that are produced in the United States are used in animal feed. That leaves only 20% for humans when we get sick. And if we waste them all on animals, the antibiotics might not work to make humans better when we do have an infection.”
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Web Extra
Full interview with Joan Casey, an environmental health scientist at Johns Hopkins University
[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/joan_full_web.mp3|titles=joan_full_web].
Web Links
Pig-Manure Fertilizer Linked to Human MRSA Infections
Understanding MRSA Infection — the Basics
Photo, taken on April 15, 2007, courtesy of Tambako the Jaguar via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.