I find this simply unbelievable,but a new report published today again
confirms that surveillance of pig herds did begin in January last at
the insistence of the EU, to look for MRSA.

and still does not comment on whether they have found MRSA in pigs in
the first 6 months of testing although pretty well everyone else has
it in the Europe and North America.

We are supposed to deduce that Britain is clear and we only have MRSA
ST398  in people but not pigs.

I do not believe that any responsible organisation could ever behave
in such a cruel cavalier and reckless manner towards their fellow
human beings, let alone one paid for by the taxpayer.

 They should have been doing this work four years ago following the
Dutch warnings not when finally ordered to do so by the EU.

To fail to issue clear unambiguous interim reports now is ludicrous.

The behavior of Britain's veterinary community is disgusting beyond
belief.  They will be called to account, those involved and  those
that stood by and did nothing.

http://www.vmd.gov.uk/Publications/Antibiotic/SurveillanceStrategy2008.pdf

Strategy for developing and
implementing a programme of
surveillance for antimicrobial
resistance in animals in
England and Wales
(revised July 2008)

4.1 The proposed surveillance programme will primarily focus on
food-producing
animals, (i.e. cattle, pigs, poultry, sheep, fish and game). However,
where there are
clear public health issues to address from non food producing animals
work will be
directed in this area. An example of this is MRSA in companion animals
and horses.
Consideration will be given at a later stage to formally include other
animals
(including companion and wild animals) in the proposed surveillance
programme;
companion animals are also currently the subject of Defra-funded
research projects,
which include some aspects of surveillance for antimicrobial
resistance; Salmonella
isolates from companion animals are included in current surveillance
on a nonstatutory
basis. The surveillance programme will not cover horticulture. Neither
will
it include food (of animal origin) as this is the responsibility of
the FSA. There is at
times a fine distinction between animals and food, e.g. a chicken
carcase in a
processing plant would be ‘animal’ but the same carcase at retail sale
would be
‘food’. Information from such food data streams will be taken into
account when
considering the overall situation.

and elsewhere

(g) The antimicrobial cloxacillin is used in veterinary medicine for
treatment of Staphylococcus aureus and certain
other infections. Periodic surveys should be performed to ascertain
whether resistance to the related
antimicrobial compound meticillin has emerged in the UK in S. aureus
in food-producing animals (none has yet
been reported and surveys may be targeted to isolates of S. aureus
showing resistance to penicillin and
amoxicillin/clavulanate. (The situation in human medicine is
different; resistance to the related antimicrobial
compound meticillin in S. aureus – so-called MRSA – comprises a major
problem. The situation is also different
in some other European countries, where MRSA has been detected in pigs
and some other food-producing
animal species). Vancomycin, quinupristin/dalfopristin and linezolid
are all compounds that are used in human
medicine though not in veterinary medicine, although in some cases
related compounds such as virginiamycin
and avoparcin were formerly used as growth promoters in animals.
Cross-resistance can occur between the
former veterinary growth promoters virginiamycin and avoparcin and the
compounds quinupristin/dalfoprisitin and
vancomycin respectively. Fusidic acid is present in some antimicrobial
formulations for companion animals.

-- 
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com  and http://animal-epidemics.blogspot.com/