MRSA found in Iowa meat : Aetiology.
Why am I rehashing all of this? We have a new paper out examining S. aureus in Iowa meats--and did find for the first time MRSA ST398, as well as MRSA USA300 and MSSA strains including both presumptive "human" and "animal" types. This was just a pilot study and numbers are still fairly small, but enough to say that yes, this is here in the heart of flyover country as well as in the other areas already examined. As I mentioned, this is one of two studies we've completed examining MRSA on meat; the other is still under review and much more controversial, but I will share that as soon as I'm able. And with the USDA grant, we'll be working on better understanding the role that contaminated meats play in the epidemiology and transmission of S. aureus for the next several years, so expect to see more posts on this topic...
