Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) and Antimicrobial Resistance

Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) hog operations impact their environments and the communities around the farms.  The soil, water and air are contaminated with MRSA around large scale hog farms.  Fomite transfer of MRSA then infect workers and their families, moving into the community. In a new Veterans Affairs study, researchers found that veterans who lived within one mile of a large hog confinement were nearly three times as likely to test positive for a type of bacteria known as MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.


The following studies examine further environmental contamination.

Longitudinal Study of the Contamination of Air and of Soil Surfaces in the Vicinity of Pig Barns by Livestock-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Risk of Antibiotic-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Dispersion from Hog Farms: A Critical Review

In Iowa City VA study, proximity to swine linked to higher MRSA rates

Occurrence and Survival of Livestock-Associated MRSA in Pig Manure and on Agriculture Fields

Feeding antibiotics to pigs poses and additional threat to humans. The over use of antibiotics creates anti-microbial resistance which is  a major global threat driven by pollution, chemical cleaning and the overuse of antibiotics in animals and humans. From the mid-1990s, one study finds, MRSA epidemiology changed globally as new MRSA variants caused infections in otherwise healthy people having no exposure to hospitals. This crisis has been lost due to pandemic coverage. It is time again to take is seriously.


Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Pigs and Farm Workers on Conventional and Antibiotic-Free Swine Farms in the USA

Pig-manure fertilizer linked to human MRSA infections

Exposure to Pig Farms and Manure Fertilizers Associated with MRSA Infections

Pigs and MRSA: What are the human health risks and to whom?

New paths for drug-resistant bacteria in North Carolina hog farms

High-Density Livestock Operations, Crop Field Application of Manure, and Risk of Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection in Pennsylvania


Antimicrobial resistance is a major problem.  This problem is driven by a number of sources.  The overuse of antibiotics, pollution,  and cleaning chemicals all add to the development of increase the rate of antibiotic resistance.  All that being said any enviroment lends to microbial mutation.

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