Table 2.
MRSA prevalence of people living and/or working on broiler farms in relation to farm-related and individual characteristics on 47 broiler farms in The Netherlands
| Variable | Frequency (no. persons)a | Human MRSA prevalence (%)b |
|---|---|---|
| General variables | ||
| Region (North/East/West/South) | 49/38/48/10 | 0·0/5·3/6·3/30·0 |
| Sampling period (Jan.–June/July–Dec.) | 77/68 | 1·3/10·3 |
| Variables related to farms | ||
| Living/working on MRSA-positive farm (yes/no) | 9/136 | 66·7/1·5 |
| Enter the stable (yes/no) | 106/24 | 5·7/4·2 |
| Hours in stablec (0 h/⩽2 h/>2 h per day) | 24/32/27 | 4·2/6·3/11·1 |
| Physical contact with broilers (yes/no) | 100/30 | 6·0/3·3 |
| Physical contact with broilersd (0 h/⩽1 h/>1 h per day) | 30/30/19 | 3·3/6·7/10·5 |
| Farm size (⩽78 000/>78 000 broilers) | 63/76 | 4·8/6·6 |
| Absence of changing room in barn (yes/no) | 14/131 | 14·3/4·6 |
| Variables related to persons | ||
| Age (0–18/19–65/>66 years) | 41/98/6 | 0·0/8·2/0·0 |
| Type of person (farmer/family member/employee) | 47/89/9 | 8·5/3·4/11·1 |
| Type of person (farmer/partner/family/employee) | 47/35/54/9 | 8·5/8·6/0·0/11·1 |
| Job related to nursing (yes/no) | 8/127 | 0·0/6·3 |
| Antibiotic use past 3 months (yes/no) | 9/119 | 11·1/5·0 |
| Playing team sports (yes/no) | 45/84 | 4·4/6·0 |
| Hospital admission during last year (yes/no) | 11/117 | 9·1/5·1 |
| Shared use of towels (yes/no) | 73/52 | 4·1/7·7 |
| Smoking (yes/no) | 10/119 | 6·9/5·5 |
| Psoriasis (yes/no) | 3/121 | 33·3/5·0 |
| Foreign travel during past year (yes/no) | 66/61 | 9·1/1·6 |
| Countries visited (<5%e/5–25%f/>25%g MRSA prevalence) | 62/32/30 | 1·6/6·3/13·3 |
A number of questionnaires were not complete, resulting in variables with missing values.
Percentages in bold: P<0·25 in univariable logistic regression.
2 h was median number of hours for persons not having 0 h.
1 h was median number of hours for persons not having 0 h.
Not travelled abroad or travelled to to Sweden.
Austria, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Czech Republic, France, Poland.
Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, United Kingdom, Turkey, Canada, Egypt, Sumatra, China, Curacao.
Risk countries were divided into three classes based on low, moderate and high MRSA prevalence of countries, derived from data of the EARSS Annual Report 2008 [30].