U.S. antibiotic-fed meat crawling with resistant S. aureus

Waters et al tested 136 meat and poultry samples in U.S. grocery stores, and found 77% of the turkey, 42% of pork, 41% of chicken, and 37% of beef were contaminated with S. aureus. 96% of the isolates were resistant to at least one drug, and 52% of isolates were resistant to 3 antibiotic classes. In the Netherlands, authors say, the ST398 MRSA strain colonizes meat workers and now commonly infects people in the community; authors found the ST398 strain in many of the U.S. turkey samples. Antibiotics are fed in low doses daily to healthy animals to promote growth and prevent illness under the unhealthy conditions of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Clin Infect Dis 2011;52:1227-1230.FULL FREE TEXT