Livestock Workers at High Risk to Contract MRSA

While it is no surprise that working with livestock makes you more prone to picking up antibiotic-resistant bacteria, how high the level of risk is what catches the eye.

“This is a bit of a wakeup call,” said Felicia Wu. “I don’t think there was much awareness that swine workers are at such high risk, for example. Or that large animal vets are also at extremely high risk.”

People working on swine farms are more than 15 times more likely to harbor the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain of bacteria acquired from livestock than those who don't work with animals. Cattle workers and livestock veterinarians face a 12% and 8% higher risk, respectively.

Wu explains that this type of MRSA strain is especially infectious among animals and has now evolved to infect humans as well, making it a zoonotic disease (that can transmit between animals and humans). Such diseases can lead to devastating consequences on human health, such as the novel Coronavirus Pandemic.

Wu and Chen Chen's paper highlights the elevated risks, precautionary measures, and the public health burden of livestock-associated MRSA. Good hygienic practices and policies can help a lot, especially in this case.

“The final message is that we need to protect our health and the health of our animals,” she said. “We don’t have control over bats, but we do have some level of control over how we raise and handle our poultry, cattle, and swine.”

MRSA from livestock appears to be less dangerous to humans than MRSA that evolved in health care settings. This is because the latter built up defenses against a range of antibiotics. The former is also less prevalent than community-associated MRSA, as the latter can be caused by bacteria in gyms, schools, and workplaces. However, both community and livestock MRSA are more treatable than their counterparts found in healthcare settings.

Wu and Chen analyzed 15 years of literature on data about the likelihood of people acquiring the bacteria based on their livestock-related profession in order to calculate the risk levels. The risk was elevated for every occupation studied (vets, slaughterhouse employees, and people working with swine, horses, cattle, and poultry).

According to the rules passed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2017 to control the use of antibiotics, farmers can still use them to treat and prevent disease, but the use of antibiotics to increase animal growth is forbidden. This has reduced the ability of bacteria in agricultural settings to develop resistance to antibiotics.

Researchers state that as MRSA lives on soft tissue (on the skin and in noses), reducing exposure to broken skin by keeping cuts and open wounds clean and covered can help reduce infection risk. Other precautionary measures suggested include regular hand-washing and wearing gloves and protective clothing.

“Once the bacteria get a hold in an environment, they are hard to get rid of,” adds Wu. “Reducing the risk of antibiotic-resistant infections is one of the main goals that farmers have.” Source-Medindia