NY Times article upsets local farmers
Ag members say hogs not linked to MRSA
Updated: Monday, 16 Mar 2009, 6:45 PM EDT
Renetta DuBose
CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof put the small town of Camden under the microscope this week after reporting that local hog farms may have caused an outbreak of MRSA or staph infections. Carroll County Ag Association member Miriam Robeson said the article is not completely accurate.
"I think it's a very poorly researched article and it's intended just to make people upset about the livestock industry, not to really inform them," said Robeson.
Kristof alleges that hog farms, like one near the Camden area, overuses antibiotics in livestock feed. He said the process leads to MRSA in the pigs, which could be transferred to humans who ear pork, use a contaminated plate or utensil or from wastes leaking into ground water.
Robeson said Kristof's accusations do not represent how Carroll County farmers operate.
"The producers in Carroll County are very responsible. They work very hard. They have to drink the water, eat the food, live with the animals or live near the animals that they take care of. They're going to be very responsible producers," said Robeson. Read More
Camden, IN has been thrust into the spotlight over the weekend after their local farmers were accused of being responsible for creating and distributing the antibiotic resistant MRSA bacteria. The NY Times continued their assault on American agriculture by printing the article over the weekend. The local ag association is working very hard to explain how antibiotics are used in a responsible manner. Healthy livestock translate into a safe food supply, so it’s important for everyone to make sure we have the tools available to keep them that way.
Showing posts with label MRSA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MRSA. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Experts Take on MRSA NYT's Article
Purdue experts on livestock and antibiotic resistance
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University experts said a New York Times opinion piece this week that tried to establish pigs as a source of MRSA infection for humans is "highly speculative."
MRSA, (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), or antibiotic-resistant staph, can be found anywhere in nature, according to Paul Ebner, a livestock microbiologist. While he said there has been an increase in the number of these infections and that pigs and other animals can be carriers, the vast majority of infections come from skin-to-skin contact with infected humans.
Making assumptions based on limited studies or information is a big jump and there is no proof to link MRSA in humans to pigs and pig operations at this time, said Ching Ching Wu, professor of veterinary pathobiology and head of microbiology in Purdue's Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory. Wu said there is more scientific evidence to support the spread of MRSA among humans and from humans to animals rather than from animals to humans.
A University of Iowa study mentioned in the Times column was a pilot study that looked at only two farms, and only one of them had the organism. Another Dutch study was also inconclusive, according to the Purdue experts.
Both Ebner and Wu said that because MRSA is so prevalent, the best way to avoid infections is to always use proper hygiene.
Ebner, assistant professor of animal sciences, conducts research into microbiology issues associated with livestock, including food safety and human health implications. Wu researches infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance and is on the U.S. delegation to address antimicrobial resistance in food worldwide.
Both experts are available for stories through the weekend. Ebner can be reached at 765-494-4820 (office), 765-464-9699 (cell) and pebner@purdue.edu. Wu can be contacted at 765-494-7459 (office), 765-491-0291 (cell) and wuc@purdue.edu.
This was an article that was published in response the Kristof's New York Times article trying to link MRSA and hog production based on his own expertise. We should leave our disease research to those that are trained to do so, not newspaper reporters.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University experts said a New York Times opinion piece this week that tried to establish pigs as a source of MRSA infection for humans is "highly speculative."
MRSA, (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), or antibiotic-resistant staph, can be found anywhere in nature, according to Paul Ebner, a livestock microbiologist. While he said there has been an increase in the number of these infections and that pigs and other animals can be carriers, the vast majority of infections come from skin-to-skin contact with infected humans.
Making assumptions based on limited studies or information is a big jump and there is no proof to link MRSA in humans to pigs and pig operations at this time, said Ching Ching Wu, professor of veterinary pathobiology and head of microbiology in Purdue's Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory. Wu said there is more scientific evidence to support the spread of MRSA among humans and from humans to animals rather than from animals to humans.
A University of Iowa study mentioned in the Times column was a pilot study that looked at only two farms, and only one of them had the organism. Another Dutch study was also inconclusive, according to the Purdue experts.
Both Ebner and Wu said that because MRSA is so prevalent, the best way to avoid infections is to always use proper hygiene.
Ebner, assistant professor of animal sciences, conducts research into microbiology issues associated with livestock, including food safety and human health implications. Wu researches infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance and is on the U.S. delegation to address antimicrobial resistance in food worldwide.
Both experts are available for stories through the weekend. Ebner can be reached at 765-494-4820 (office), 765-464-9699 (cell) and pebner@purdue.edu. Wu can be contacted at 765-494-7459 (office), 765-491-0291 (cell) and wuc@purdue.edu.
This was an article that was published in response the Kristof's New York Times article trying to link MRSA and hog production based on his own expertise. We should leave our disease research to those that are trained to do so, not newspaper reporters.
Kristof Attacks Agriculture, Again
Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
CAMDEN, Ind.
The late Tom Anderson, the family doctor in this little farm town in northwestern Indiana, at first was puzzled, then frightened.
He began seeing strange rashes on his patients, starting more than a year ago. They began as innocuous bumps — “pimples from hell,” he called them — and quickly became lesions as big as saucers, fiery red and agonizing to touch.
They could be anywhere, but were most common on the face, armpits, knees and buttocks. Dr. Anderson took cultures and sent them off to a lab, which reported that they were MRSA, or staph infections that are resistant to antibiotics.
Dr. Anderson at first couldn’t figure out why he was seeing patient after patient with MRSA in a small Indiana town. And then he began to wonder about all the hog farms outside of town. Could the pigs be incubating and spreading the disease? Read More
Through out the article Kristof says that he has no evidence that MRSA is related to the hog farms. He also says that no one else does either, yet he goes to great lengths to convince the reader that there is some sort of conspiracy happening in agriculture to cover this up. As with a lot of people these days, he wants to throw science under the bus in favor of emotion and conspiracy theories. I also find it laughable that in every article Kristof writes about ag, he has to refernce that he grew up on a farm. I’m sorry, but his childhood from 40 years ago doesn’t give him the ability to talk with any type of authority on disease origin or transmission, or modern livestock production. Kristof is a Michael Pollan wannabe that has realized he can make a name for himself by trying to spread fear about our agriculture and the food we produce.
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
CAMDEN, Ind.
The late Tom Anderson, the family doctor in this little farm town in northwestern Indiana, at first was puzzled, then frightened.
He began seeing strange rashes on his patients, starting more than a year ago. They began as innocuous bumps — “pimples from hell,” he called them — and quickly became lesions as big as saucers, fiery red and agonizing to touch.
They could be anywhere, but were most common on the face, armpits, knees and buttocks. Dr. Anderson took cultures and sent them off to a lab, which reported that they were MRSA, or staph infections that are resistant to antibiotics.
Dr. Anderson at first couldn’t figure out why he was seeing patient after patient with MRSA in a small Indiana town. And then he began to wonder about all the hog farms outside of town. Could the pigs be incubating and spreading the disease? Read More
Through out the article Kristof says that he has no evidence that MRSA is related to the hog farms. He also says that no one else does either, yet he goes to great lengths to convince the reader that there is some sort of conspiracy happening in agriculture to cover this up. As with a lot of people these days, he wants to throw science under the bus in favor of emotion and conspiracy theories. I also find it laughable that in every article Kristof writes about ag, he has to refernce that he grew up on a farm. I’m sorry, but his childhood from 40 years ago doesn’t give him the ability to talk with any type of authority on disease origin or transmission, or modern livestock production. Kristof is a Michael Pollan wannabe that has realized he can make a name for himself by trying to spread fear about our agriculture and the food we produce.
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