Truly scary news about drug-resistance bacterial gene found on a family farm with a "closed herd" -- they don't bring other pigs on the farm -- so the resistance gene that they found either came from a HUMAN or was transmitted in feed on on equipment of some kind.

And it looks like just handling raw meat might be enough to get it into humans.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/res...rm-n692236

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"The last terrible shoe may have just dropped when it comes to drug-resistant infections. This is just one more warning that doctors may soon have nothing left in their toolkit to save patients when these bugs strike."

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Even if it doesn't make people sick right away, it could colonize people who handle the raw meat. Colonization means people (or animals) carry a germ but don't get sick from it — but if they do become ill with something else, the bacteria can multiply. Plus, colonized people can infect sick or frail people.

"The emergence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) has been described as heralding the end of the antibiotic era with their global expansion presenting an urgent threat to public health," the researchers wrote.

"These potential pathogens can harbor highly mobile genes that confer resistance to the most critically important, live-saving antimicrobial drugs."

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