There is anecdotal and empiric evidence that a new strain of MRSA is being spread among livestock and then being transmitted to humans, with severe repercussions. A study in a Dutch journal found that a form of MRSA in swine that is different from the MRSA that is epidemic in many parts of the United States has caused infection in humans. A 63-year-old woman with a kidney transplant was admitted with heart inflammation caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The isolated S. aureus was identified as sequence type 398, a MRSA-strain that has recently been isolated from a high percentage of Dutch pigs. This is the first report of a life-threatening infection with this 'pig MRSA'. This strain is genetically different from the globally dispersed MRSA-strains, and also from the strains that have been epidemic for several years in the United States as the causative agent ofcommunity-acquired skin infections. The Dutch Working Group on Infection Prevention (WIP) updated its recommendations in order to prevent the further spread of this strain, and advises that the population at risk (pig breeders, slaughterhouse personnel and veterinarians) be held in isolation when hospitalised until MRSA colonisation has been excluded. The patient described here, however, did not belong to this population at risk. This may be another example of a MRSA strain jumping outside of its local boundaries and into the general population. To read more about this study, click here.