A recent outbreak of an antibiotic resistant strain of staphylococcus aureus found in pork, poultry and beef has Americans worried, but should we be?

Robert Hubert, teaching laboratory coordinator for the department of microbiology, said not to worry.

“Your body will take care of itself; don’t completely avoid meat in fear of eating the bacteria,” Hubert said.

“Staphylococcus aureus or S. aureus, is a gram-positive cocci bacteria that is a common human pathogen,” Hubert said.

Gram-positive means the bacteria do not have an outer membrane and stains a dark blue or purple color when stained with crystal violet. S. aureus is spherical in shape or coccus, as it is referred to in cell morphology.

While S. aureus causes staph infections, it is nothing to lose sleep over.

“The bacteria produces a toxin that, in large numbers, can get into a person’s gastrointestinal tract and can lead to staph food poisoning,” Hubert said. “The symptoms are the same as any other form of food poisoning: nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea. The good news is that is lasts for a very short time. Such infections usually only last a day, then your body will recover and that will be all.”

Students should take care to appropriately wash, handle and prepare meats in order to decrease the risk S. aureus contamination.

“Proper handling of food, wearing gloves and hair nets will help keep food from being contaminated,” Hubert said. “Properly cooking meat will denature the toxins of S. aureus and kill the bacteria.”