Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when (a) she and (b) other Ministers in her Department were first informed of the discovery by researchers from the university of Cambridge of a new strain of MRSA in milk from a British herd; and what steps she plans to take to address the issue.
Answer
[holding answer 15 June 2011]: The former Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw) and Ministers were first informed of the novel MRSA strain that had been identified by the university of Cambridge on 24 September 2009. On 1 June 2011, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), was notified of the impending publication of the university of Cambridge's paper on this novel MRSA strain.As a result of the university of Cambridge notifying the Department of the identification of this novel strain in 2009, DEFRA, including its Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA), alerted colleagues from the Department of Health, the Health Protection Agency and the Food Standards Agency about the initial findings. As a result of the consequent discussions, DEFRA commissioned the university to undertake some further work to enhance understanding of the origin and the significance of this new finding. Included within this additional work was the investigation of some cattle Staphylococcus aureus isolates that the VLA had retained as an archive after a research project into mastitis (inflammation of the udder) in cattle. None of these isolates were identified as MRSA by the VLA using normal testing protocols, although a few showed some resistance to the antibiotics commonly used to identify MRSA. These isolates identified by VLA as having a degree of resistance underwent further examination during this additional research and some were shown to be similar to the strain identified by Cambridge.Now that this research has been completed, DEFRA will continue to collaborate with public health bodies that are all represented at the DEFRA Antimicrobial Resistance Coordination (DARC) group. A sub-group specifically on MRSA will also continue to monitor all new developments relating to all types of MRSA and will advise on potential policy options accordingly. Further research projects will be commissioned on antimicrobial resistance. Their scope will continue to be prioritised, and this will be informed by the DARC group, which assesses risk to help target funding to where it is most needed.The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency will continue to test clinical samples from cows with mastitis (and other diagnostic submissions from cows and other farmed species) and so monitor such material for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus and whether such isolates demonstrate resistance to antibiotics. The VMD is responsible for authorising all veterinary antimicrobial products and monitors the overall volume of sales and any suspected adverse reactions (including being notified about suspected failures in effectiveness, which may be an indication of the development of antimicrobial resistance).