GYLLE (2)

It's the gylle season at the moment, which means that it stinks round our house. Literally at the moment, since the pig farmer from round the hill is spraying the field on the other side of our hedge as I write. My son, who has been in Basel for the past couple of years and so is not used to it, says that he feels nauseous.

Gylle is a big problem, which makes the item on last Sunday's news very interesting. ST398 is a variety of MRSA ("methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus"), the flesh-eating bug normally encountered in hospitals, but which in this case is found in pigs. Using genome sequencing, scientists discovered that ST398 originated in humans, and then jumped across the species to our porcine friends. It first came to the authorities' attention, when the six-month old daughter of a Dutch pig farmer had to go into hospital for an operation to cure a heart birth defect. Not only was she carrying the bacterium, so too were the rest of her (otherwise healthy) family. The daughter survived; just. But the long-term implication was that the pig farmer started thinking seriously about how to control bacteria on his farm, bacteria which by definition are highly resistant to antibiotics, use of which has soared in the animal husbandry industry in Europe.

After years of trial and error, he thinks he has found the answer. The solution is not to attack the nasty bacteria directly, but to bombard the pig areas with positive bacteria. The pigs themselves are given a sort of bacteria shower every day, which they seemed to enjoy. Anyway, without space to grow, the nasty bacteria die naturally. The Dutch farmer estimates that he has reduced his use of antibiotics by 95%.

Reduced use of drugs is of course a good thing in itself. But the real winner for us rural folk is that the smell is also greatly reduced. The smell in urine is caused by the bacteria which help to break it down. Less bacteria, less smell.

The authorities here are reluctant to recommend the new system on the basis of one man's experience, and a Dutchman to boot. But they are committing money to have it documented. Which means that by the time  next year's gylle season starts, it may not be so unpleasant to live here.

Walter Blotscher