MRSA in dairy cows

[IMContrary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7517NH20110602

British scientists have found a new strain of the "superbug" MRSA in milk from cows and in swab samples from humans and say it cannot be detected with standard tests.
Researchers said the find was "worrying" but added it was unlikely that the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bug, which is resistant to some antibiotics, could cause infections by getting into the food chain via milk.
Mark Holmes and a team of scientists from Cambridge University, found the new MRSA bug while researching S. aureus, a bug known to cause a potentially lethal disease in dairy cows called bovine mastitis. The discovery was published on Friday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
"To find the same new strain in both humans and cows is certainly worrying. However, pasteurization of milk will prevent any risk of infection via the food chain," said Laura Garcia-Alvarez, who worked on Holmes' team.
MRSA is estimated to kill 19,000 people each year in the United States -- far more than HIV and AIDS -- and a similar number in Europe.

Could be a real problem here in the USA if it gets started in dairy herds. Could prove a problem in family cows too, since it can be spread from humans to cows. You could have have MRSA and not know it, pass it to your cow and give her a case of subclinical mastitis. Then you drink the milk or sell/give it to someone else and pass the MRSA on to others. It is scary! I had an MRSA sinus infection once, it was not fun.

[springvalley]

Thats all we need, something else to screw up our raw milk sales. > Marc

[rabbitpatch]

Most of the general population carries MRSA on their skin already anyway. But most of us also have pretty strong immune systems and can fight it off without a problem. The biggest danger is when the bug comes in contact with open skin. Then it can get in your blood stream and cause all kinds of problems.

Make sure your hands are clean before you milk by hand or handle milking equipment. Make sure to cover all open skin (even minor scratches) before milking by hand or handling milking equipment. Latex (or latex free) gloves are excellent for this.

I'm not sure what temperature is necessary to kill MRSA but pasteurization of the milk might serve that purpose as well. Of course then it isn't raw milk but if you're worried about it, it's an option.

[boiledfrog]

Those factory dairys are just ticking time bombs. Too many cows, too small a space treated with generous amounts of hormones and antibiotics. Place in three feet deep of crap. You get a cloud of flys...and stink. What could go wrong?

[willow_girl]

[QUOTE]Those factory dairys are just ticking time bombs. Too many cows, too small a space treated with generous amounts of hormones and antibiotics. Place in three feet deep of crap. You get a cloud of flys...and stink.{/QUOTE]

Have you ever been on a "factory dairy"? I have been on more farms than I can count ... and have yet to see one where the cows are "three feet deep in crap." (Or even one foot, for that matter.) Modern barns have concrete floors that are scraped two or three times a day (generally each time the cows are removed for milking).

Every farm I've been on uses products for fly control as well. I can't remember the last time I saw a fly in the parlor I milk in, despite the fact it is open to the outdoors.

Yes, cows smell ... but where I'm from, we call that "the smell of money."

[haypoint]

Originally Posted by springvalley

Thats all we need, something else to screw up our raw milk sales. > Marc

I agree. Why doesn't the Government just get out of the way and let the unsuspecting public find out for themselves that there are traces of ecoli, salmonella, campylobacter, TB and now MRSA in the milk?

How dare the Brits do this to the raw milk sellers? The research was likely funded by Monsanto as a way to drive out the family farms.

My Grandpappy drank milk with MRSA in it and he lived to 94, so we should make sure all raw milk has some MRSA in it, since grandpappy lived so long.

[springvalley]

Give it up Haypoint, we have been down that road so many times, I like raw milk, and you hate selling raw milk, we all know for gosh sakes. > Marc

[haypoint]

If you don’t get that burr out from under your saddle, Marc, it’s bound to fester.
Rather than see this thread as a serious health concern, you respond about how this truth might keep others from buying your product. My momma taught me not to be selfish.

You express your pro-raw milk view and that’s fine. I express mine and you don’t want to hear it.

I just hope the raw milk seller’s less than 1% market share doesn’t screw it up for the rest of the market.

[BlackWillowFarm]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it's the sarcasm we can do without Haypoint. When someone calls you on it, you throw it back at them. You've made your position on raw milk very clear on this forum. No need to rub it in.

[springvalley]

You know what Haypoint, this burr under the saddle isn`t festering, it is a open bleeding sore. And as Carla has said it is the sarcasm that is what gets my goat, sorry I am so selfish, but I still stand behind RAW "real milk" as a healthy food (drink), I find that raw milk is a much better and safer (if done right) food product. I am going to give up my fight on here for Raw " real milk" if you want to brain wash everyone on here that it will KILL you, go right ahead. I gain nothing stating my view on this forum, I have never gotten a sale of RAW "real milk" off this forum, and am sure no one reading anything I have written on here about it has made anyone sick. I WILL continue to sell RAW "real milk" here at my farm, and you continue to work for the Government health department. In the end you will more than likley win, and I will be on a poster at the Post office as a law breaker. But I will continue to milk my cows and drink raw milk. So I will no longer fight over spilled Raw milk on here any more. But if you feed people wrong information, I WILL call you on it and make you show your hand, but I`m tired of this petty back and forth rant for both sides we seem to have. GOD help us all when we have given up all our rights that we use to have in this country, a few more should put us into that socialist country that so many people seem to want. So go have your fun and tell the world the bad things RAW "real milk" CAN do to you. Hope you can now die a HAPPY man, educating the world why rawmilk needs to be pasteurized. > Selfishly Yours, Marc P.S. And I didn`t need any smiley faces to make my point.

[linn]

Amen and Amen!!!! Petty rants and tirades are tiresome and childish.

[tailwagging]

[QUOTE=willow_girl;5180823]

Those factory dairys are just ticking time bombs. Too many cows, too small a space treated with generous amounts of hormones and antibiotics. Place in three feet deep of crap. You get a cloud of flys...and stink.{/QUOTE]

Have you ever been on a "factory dairy"? I have been on more farms than I can count ... and have yet to see one where the cows are "three feet deep in crap." (Or even one foot, for that matter.) Modern barns have concrete floors that are scraped two or three times a day (generally each time the cows are removed for milking).

Every farm I've been on uses products for fly control as well. I can't remember the last time I saw a fly in the parlor I milk in, despite the fact it is open to the outdoors.

Yes, cows smell ... but where I'm from, we call that "the smell of money."

I have. at lest 1 to 2 foot deep. it was my first dairy job in CA and the herd lots were deep enough that you could lose your boot. the parlor was washed down good every day but the herds lots......
AND we were the cleanest dairy on that truck's run. I will also add that I drank raw milk from the tank many a time, and am still alive to post this =)

[haypoint]

Originally Posted by springvalley

You know what Haypoint, this burr under the saddle isn`t festering, it is a open bleeding sore. And as Carla has said it is the sarcasm that is what gets my goat, sorry I am so selfish, but I still stand behind RAW "real milk" as a healthy food (drink), I find that raw milk is a much better and safer (if done right) food product. I am going to give up my fight on here for Raw " real milk" if you want to brain wash everyone on here that it will KILL you, go right ahead. I gain nothing stating my view on this forum, I have never gotten a sale of RAW "real milk" off this forum, and am sure no one reading anything I have written on here about it has made anyone sick. I WILL continue to sell RAW "real milk" here at my farm, and you continue to work for the Government health department. In the end you will more than likley win, and I will be on a poster at the Post office as a law breaker. But I will continue to milk my cows and drink raw milk. So I will no longer fight over spilled Raw milk on here any more. But if you feed people wrong information, I WILL call you on it and make you show your hand, but I`m tired of this petty back and forth rant for both sides we seem to have. GOD help us all when we have given up all our rights that we use to have in this country, a few more should put us into that socialist country that so many people seem to want. So go have your fun and tell the world the bad things RAW "real milk" CAN do to you. Hope you can now die a HAPPY man, educating the world why rawmilk needs to be pasteurized. > Selfishly Yours, Marc P.S. And I didn`t need any smiley faces to make my point.

I'm looking for a job with the Health Department. Are there any job openings in your region?

[springvalley]

Originally Posted by haypoint

I'm looking for a job with the Health Department. Are there any job openings in your region?

Heaven forbid.

[SCRancher]

Originally Posted by haypoint

I'm looking for a job with the Health Department. Are there any job openings in your region?

You gotta admit that in a dry humor sort of way that was quite funny.

[springvalley]

Originally Posted by SCRancher

You gotta admit that in a dry humor sort of way that was quite funny.

Not when your trying to be serious about something, I love a good joke like anyone else, but this kinda humor goes a long way. > Marc

[linn]

MRSA is indeed a very serious threat to the food production industry. MRSA has also been found in a Midwest swine production system according to a January 2009 article. This isn't the first time MRSA has been found in animals and the workers who care for them. Not funny at all.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0122202804.htm

[boiledfrog]

[QUOTE=willow_girl;5180823]

Those factory dairys are just ticking time bombs. Too many cows, too small a space treated with generous amounts of hormones and antibiotics. Place in three feet deep of crap. You get a cloud of flys...and stink.{/QUOTE]

Have you ever been on a "factory dairy"? I have been on more farms than I can count ... and have yet to see one where the cows are "three feet deep in crap." (Or even one foot, for that matter.) Modern barns have concrete floors that are scraped two or three times a day (generally each time the cows are removed for milking).

Every farm I've been on uses products for fly control as well. I can't remember the last time I saw a fly in the parlor I milk in, despite the fact it is open to the outdoors.

Yes, cows smell ... but where I'm from, we call that "the smell of money."

Yep I live in the heart of dairy country. We get a fly season here that will cover a window sill. I've seen 20 foot tall piles of crap leaching into corn fields. Where I live I call it the smell of "other" peoples money.
I'm not anti dairy. I'm anti mega-dairy. You work on a family farm with under a thousand cows I'm all for you. We have a guy up the road has 60,000 cows. I see that as a good living for 100 families. Something is wrong with our system. I've seen too many talented dairymen lose everything to the bank.

[springvalley]

Originally Posted by boiledfrog

I'm not anti dairy. I'm anti mega-dairy. You work on a family farm with under a thousand cows I'm all for you. We have a guy up the road has 60,000 cows. I see that as a good living for 100 families. Something is wrong with our system. I've seen too many talented dairymen lose everything to the bank.

Amen to that, > Thanks Marc