Hedgehog Awareness Week this week !

Sun 16 Jan 2022, 12:42

And this from Hugh Warwick on the matter of MSRA and hedgehogs:

'One of my colleagues, the amazing Sophie Lund-Rasmussen, who has recently moved to Oxford from Denmark, has been involved with a study looking at the 'superbug' MRSA - a variety of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus that has developed resistance to the antibiotic methicillin. MRSA can be a problem, especially in hospitals.

So why does this involve hedgehogs? Well Sophie found that samples taken from the skin of hedgehogs had MRSA - and the question has to be where did it come from? Was this a 'spill' from hospitals? Or has MRSA emerged naturally in the wild as well as in conditions where lots of antibiotics are in use?

It turns out that the scientists were able to identify the fact that MRSA has been around for at least 200 years, so long before the arrival of antibiotics. This does not absolve our massive use, however. There are enormous risks connected with the staggering amount of antibiotic used in the industrial production of meat, for example. The worry is that the continual exposure to the drugs that could help us will encourage resistance to flourish. Our delight (well not mine!) in cheap meat is going to destroy the life-saving properties of loads of readily available drugs. In the USA it was found that around 65% of all antibiotics produced are for the production of cheap meat.

The science behind the discovery is really interesting. The researchers believe that antibiotic resistance evolved in Staphylococcus aureus as an adaptation to having to exist side-by-side on the skin of hedgehogs with the fungus Trichophyton erinacei, which produces its own antibiotics.

So what does this mean for us and hedgehogs? Utterly diddly-squat. We have no need to worry about this, and if any of the less-reputable press start publishing scare stories, please let me know! It is pointing out that nature evolves. We will not get MRSA from our hedgehogs! But we will lose the effectiveness of our antibiotics if we do not take care about how they are used out in the fields!

I hope that has put your mind at rest! 

Now, I need to think about how to persuade Gove - and we all need to look at our fences and walls around our gardens or around the open spaces we use - and think how and where to make holes!'

And from me, -  it's a good time to do something about holes as we head towards the Spring to help our isolated hedgehogs reach each other !

 :-)