Volume 18, Number 11—November 2012 Livestock Density as Risk
Factor for Livestock-associated Methicillin-Resistant
Staphylococcus aureus, the Netherlands To determine whether
persons living in areas of high animal density are at increased
risk for carrying livestock-associated methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA), we used an existing dataset of
persons in the Netherlands with LA-MRSA carriage and controls
who carried other types of MRSA. Results of running univariate
and multivariate logistic regression models indicated that
living in livestock-dense areas increases the odds of nasal
carriage of LA-MRSA. We found that doubling pig, cattle, and
veal calf densities per municipality increased the odds of LA-
MRSA carriage over carriage of other types of MRSA by 24.7% (95%
CI 0.9%–54.2%), 76.9% (95% CI 11.3%–81.3%), and 24.1% (95% CI
5.5%–45.9%), respectively, after adjusting for direct animal
contact, living in a rural area, and the probable source of MRSA
carriage. Controlling the spread of LA-M