Pat's Note: It wasn't that recent. The Dutch flew to California years ago to
tell the Americans even before publication. The Americans, like the British,
decided to ignore them. (and me!!)

http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/may08/080515m.asp

...Dr. Christine Hoang, an assistant director in the AVMA Scientific
Activities Division who attended the meeting's sessions on zoonoses, said
further discussion concerned transmission of methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus among species-including humans, companion animals, and
production animals. Speakers talked about MRSA in pets and a different
strain of MRSA that scientists identified recently in swine in the
Netherlands and Canada.

Pat's Note; I trust the senior ranks of Britain's State Veterinary Service
will have the grace and common decency to resign tomorrow morning.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/health/news/article_1403526.php/Tests_fin...

Tests find killer MRSA bug common in German piggeries

May 5, 2008, 15:03 GMT

Bonn, Germany - Killer staphylococcus germs which defy antibiotics and which
are rampant in some hospitals are also widespread on German farm pigs,
health officials said Monday.

Spot tests were ordered after last year's revelation that the germs are
widespread in Dutch piggeries.

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was found in 28 out of 40
of the pig farms checked in North Rhine Westphalia state, the state farm
services bureau in Bonn said.

The infected animals were otherwise healthy.

German federal health officials say consumers should cook cuts of pork all
the way through to avoid infection.

MRSA, a serious problem in the world's hospitals, was first detected in
animals in 1972.

Pat's Note: Here is a transcript of page 21 of
Putting Meat on the Table:
Industrial Farm Animal Production in America

A Report of the Pew Commission on Industrial
Farm Animal Production

http://www.ncifap.org/_images/PCIFAP%%20FINAL%%20REPORT.pdf

Methicillin (Antibiotic)-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

Staphylococcus aureus is a common bacterium that causes superficial
infections and occasionally invasive infections that can be fatal. Strains
of S. aureus that are resistant to the antibiotic methicillin and
related antibiotics commonly used to treat it are referred to as
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA and other
staphylococci may be found on human skin, in the nose (where it can
reside without causing symptoms), and on objects in the environment,
and can be passed from person to person through close contact. MRSA
is usually subcategorized as either hospital-acquired or community acquired,
not only because of where the infection was acquired, but also
because different strains of the bacteria appear to be responsible for
the different types of infections.

On Mon, 05 May 2008 15:38:06 +0100, Old Codger
anyoldwhere.net> wrote:

Pat's Note: This should help spur the search for superbug sources in the
community. Try not testing the pigs for MRSA and C.Diff with this kind of
restriction.

When American issurers refuse cover for tourists and businessmen travelling
to or via London, it won't be loss of transit passengers via Heathrow that
will bother the government.

If you allow your vets to act like third world protection racketeers, you
must expect the rest of the world to cross you off their shopping list.

Who wants to go to a disease ridden hell-hole run by a gang of bent vets and
their hanger's on?

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/05/12/gvsb0512.htm

GOVERNMENT & MEDICINE

CMS seeks to add 9 hospital-acquired conditions to no-pay list

Critics say Medicare is moving too quickly, and many of the complications it
is targeting are not always preventable.

By Kevin B. O'Reilly, AMNews staff. May 12, 2008.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last month proposed to stop
paying for nine hospital-associated conditions that it says can be prevented
and that cost Medicare about $25 billion last year.

Pat's Notes: I'm sure that I'm not the only one with a special expertise
that enables a confident rejection of a popular myth.

The problem comes when the popular myth appears to have the backing of
commonsense and happens to reinforces the prejudices of nearly everyone
else.

Usually, one shrugs one's shoulders, sighs inwardly and refills one's glass.
The sensible man knows when a stiff drink is the only appropriate response.

However, as a shiny new teetotaller on a fine sunny morning, that option no
longer seems feasible.

The concept of "food miles" is absolute rubbish.

There! I have said it.

I will now put my tin hat on and sit under the table with the other retired
shipbrokers and shipping types and mutter companionably about the sheer mild
boggling ignorance of the rest of the population.

We console ourselves with the notion that despite the tons of wasted paper
and misled enthusiasm, nobody will actually do anything with food miles, a
concept as unlikely as boarding an elephant for the next flight to New York.