Can MRSA be transmitted to humans from pets with symptoms?
Staph skin infections, including MRSA, generally start as small red bumps that resemble pimples, boils or spider bites. These can quickly turn into deep, painful abscesses that require surgical draining. Sometimes the bacteria remain confined to the skin. But they can also penetrate into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs. Sources: http://mayoclinic.
The superbug, a strain of bacteria known as MRSA, has evolved a resistance to antibiotics. It has long plagued hospitals but in recent years has become more common in homes. MRSA has even invaded beaches. Only about two years ago, scientists began to seriously suspect pets were transmitting the bacteria. In the July edition of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Richard Oehler of the University of South Florida College of Medicine and colleagues lay out the latest thinking on MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and pets. The infections can be transmitted by animal bites and most threaten young children, the researchers note. “As community-acquired strains of MRSA increase in prevalence, a growing body of clinical evidence has documented MRSA colonization in domestic animals, often implying direct acquisition of S aureus infection from their human owners,” they write. “MRSA colonization has been documented in companion animals such as horses, dogs, and cats, and these animals
Turns out we can give MRSA, the nasty, drug-resistant infection, to our pets. Then they can carry it around and give it back to us, or transmit it to others. An overview published in the new issue of Lancet Infectious Diseases cites a few pretty compelling case studies of this phenomenon: An outbreak on a rehabilitation geriatric unit was traced to a “ward cat” believed to be spreading the bug from person to person. The outbreak passed after the cat was removed from the ward and infection-control measures were put in place. A separate outbreak in an intensive-care unit was traced to a nurse and his spouse, who was also a nurse. Months later, the nurse and his spouse were linked to a second outbreak. Later, someone figured out the couple’s dog was also infected with MRSA. “Simultaneous decolonisation of the entire household (both nurses and the dog) was ultimately successful,” the authors write. Sources:
