LA-MRSA in pigs

MRSA was first directly linked to the keeping of pigs in 2005. In the course of the preoperative examination of a small child in a hospital, a so-called non-typable MRSA (NT-MRSA) was detected. The work-up of this case led via the profession of the parents, pig farmers, to the proof of the colonization of pigs with MRSA. Generally, the MRSA starting from the pig reservoir were called LA-MRSA.

LA-MRSA is the acronym for "Livestock-associated MRSA", where MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a species of MRSA associated with conventional animal fattening. This includes humans in close working contact with these animals (especially pig farming, but also cattle for fattening and poultry for fattening) (Layer et al., 2012). In horse husbandry, for example, it is primarily CA-MRSA that appear to be a problem.