Regular readers will recall that most continental countries report
great success in keeping MRSA out of their hospitals by screening
likely carriers such as pig and pork workers prior to their attending
for selective surgery.

A Swiss study reported some months ago cast doubt on the value of
universal screening.

I don't have all the detail yet, but it is clear that American opinion
published today in four letters seems highly critical of the Swiss
conclusions.

I have no doubt more information will be available shortly.

The significance if important to Britain. At the turn of the year, the
Prime Minister appeared on TV announcing that universal screening
would be implemented (the actual target date was changed.) What he did
not say was that selective screening was an option.

We now have hugely incomplete universal screening, when we could have
had effective selective screening earlier and at a fraction of the
cost.

We have not even bothered to release the results of testing the pig
herds.

Pat's Note: This is an interesting piece.

Unusually the PCV2 vaccine is funded by government dictat by a levy on
pig farmers and slaughters.

Even the piggy vets admit that the vaccine at best is no panacea and
most of the favourable comment comes from the suppliers.

So it is effectively Defra pressuring farmers to vaccinate with
approved but unproven vaccines as an experiment.

That might be a good policy, but it isn't the farmers making the
decisions and BPEX is pressing for more money before they have the
results. BPEX do not have a good record of making good decisions and
no longer represent Welsh and Scottish farmers as a result.

Bearing in mind the mess that Defra and irs predecessor MAFF have made
of pig health in the UK over the last decade, this needs close
watching.

http://www.farmersguardian.com/story.asp?sectioncode=29&storycode=20372

Overwhelming response to PCV2 vaccine project
Livestock | 1 August, 2008

Pat's Note: This report is, of course, entirely consistent with the
"Gardiner Hypothesis" in that C.Diff in pig herds, as well as MRSA
constitutes a reservoir of infection regularly reinfecting hospitals
in the area over a number of routes.

Britain's pigs have been sick with circoviruses since 1999 and treated
with excessive antibiotics to keep them alive for long enough to get
them into the food chain.

The East of England is, of course, a major pig producing area.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=336374

Hospitals miss C diff targets

...The figures were revealed at a board meeting of the East of England
Strategic Health Authority (SHA). Board papers note that "Suffolk,
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough PCTs have been asked to consider and
report to the SHA on reasons for a significant variance from
trajectory"...

Pat's Note: Things are not improving in Ireland either. They seem
strangely relucant to think in terms of pigs being a source for either
MRSA or C.Diff too.

That figures. The three countries that seemed most impacted and
involved in mutated PMWS way back in the begining were the UK, Ireland
(both parts) and Canada.

Newspaper reports mentioning the three togther in connection with the
related 2000 CSF outbreak in pigs were removed from the WWW, and the
reporters found other jobs.

You can find much, although not all, of the detail either on my
website or by searching the archives here on uk.business.agriculture

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cases-of-deadly-superbug-climb-to-95-in-one...

Cases of deadly superbug climb to 95 in one week

SearchQuery: Independent.ie WebSearch
By Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent

Friday August 01 2008

THE number of recorded cases of the potentially lethal superbug
Clostridium Difficile has reached record levels, with a staggering 95
cases of infection reported in just one week.

An unusually good source of information on the history of circoviruses
in Britain can be traced month by month in the NADIS reports.

It is not light reading for the general public, but usually offers a
picture of the current state of affairs from a non government vet
perspective, and often reflects their doubts, uncertainties and lack
of solid data.

It always opens with a slightly offputting emphasis on matters
financial rather than strictly veterinary in respect of pigs, perhaps
reflecting the preoccupations of both the industry and their Defra
bosses.

Despite this it shows a widening gap between vets in the field and the
presentation on the state of pig heath preferred by the Defra spin
machine,

Report have been increasingly open about PMWS - Circovirus in Britain,
no doubt reflecting the worries about the association between
antibiotic use to deal with PMWS - Circovirus and the MRSA. situation
in both pigs and people - now in poultry too.

One has the remeber that if "piggy" MRSA is in Britain's pigs,
Britain's vets are amongst those most at risk of infection.

Looks a bit damp ...

but wetter here

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?
img_id=14988

I'hope I will not OT posting this message to promote a technical board
in my agricultural web site, in which I want to promote the interchange
of experiences and sources between agro-journalists.
I've thought this could be the just place to post this message because
apparently there are many journalists updating all us about agricultural
news.
The only thing you cannot write on my discussion board is all that is
political, but you can place messages and links about sources to update
journalists and free-lance about agricultural news on agro-policies,
technical novelties and so on.

This is the link:
http://www.agrolinker.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=8

a board of this forum:

http://www.agrolinker.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl

Se you soon online,
The webmaster

Pat's Note;

That's the way the wind is blowing folks. Do you think Britain can
refuse to test is pigs for much longer?

The medical insurance people will get fed up with paying out.

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/settlements/12390/metro-heart-group-settles...

Couple Awarded $2.58 Million in Malpractice Suit

A husband and wife have been awarded $2.58 million in a malpractice
suit brought against Dr. Michael Shapiro and the Metro Heart Group.

The husband, James Klotz, contracted Methicillin Resistant Staph
Aureus - also known as MRSA - which resulted in the loss of his right
leg, part of his left foot, a kidney, and partial hearing. Mrs. Klotz
was awarded $513,000 in damages because she had to quit her job to
take care of her husband of 46 years.

JUL-31-08: 2.58 Million Awarded in Malpractice Suit [STL TODAY:
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE SETTLEMENT]

Legal Help
If you have a similar problem and would like to be contacted by a
lawyer at no cost or obligation, please click the link below.

Pat's Note: I think we can say that Lincolnshire is pig country.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1502760/superbug_on_increase/

'Superbug' on Increase
Posted on: Thursday, 31 July 2008, 00:00 CDT

The number of patients testing positive for MRSA at Lincolnshire's
hospitals is rising.

Six patients were confirmed to have the superbug in June, compared
with five in May and three in April.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust is already exceeding its
Government target for MRSA cases in 2008/09.

Thirteen instances have been confirmed at sites in Lincoln, Louth,
Boston and Grantham, compared with a target of nine.

However, just 41 Lincolnshire patients have tested positive for C-
diff since April, beating a target of 69.

Thirteen patients tested positive for the superbug in June.

Pat's Note: This is, of course, the strain that is also found in North
America under the identication NAP1

Its spread is entirely consistant with the "Gardiner Hypothosis" It is
also found in pigs

Much more information is available in the posting headed

C. Diff getting much worse 027 and NAP1 Canada - US - Britain

posted here on uk.business.agriculture on Monday last.

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jDU8f-LA0TivSa0-O9BrttmwQLyg

Warning over new strain of C diff
1 hour ago

Guidelines on tackling the hospital bug Clostridium difficile (C diff)
should be reviewed following epidemics linked to a "new hyper-virulent
strain", a European watchdog has said.

The PCR ribotype 027 strain caused many of the cases in two outbreaks
at Aylesbury's Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 2004 and 2005. More than
30 people died as a consequence of contracting C diff at the hospital.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) called
for existing guidelines to be reviewed.