Dogs & Cats Can Be Reservoirs for MRSA

[sharon sanders]

Bite-related and septic syndromes caused by cats and dogs

Original Text
Richard L Oehler MD a , Ana P Velez MD a, Michelle Mizrachi MD a, Jorge Lamarche MD a, Sandra Gompf MD a
Summary

Bite infections can contain a mix of anaerobes and aerobes from the patient's skin and the animal's oral cavity, including species of Pasteurella, Streptococcus, Fusobacterium, and Capnocytophaga. Domestic cat and dog bite wounds can produce substantial morbidity and often require specialised care techniques and specific antibiotic therapy. Bite wounds can be complicated by sepsis. Disseminated infections, particularly those caused by Capnocytophaga canimorsus and Pasteurella multocida, can lead to septic shock, meningitis, endocarditis, and other severe sequelae.

An emerging syndrome in veterinary and human medicine is meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections shared between pets and human handlers, particularly community-acquired MRSA disease involving the USA300 clone. Skin, soft-tissue, and surgical infections are the most common. MRSA-associated infections in pets are typically acquired from their owners and can potentially cycle between pets and their human acquaintances.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(09)70110-0/fulltext

[hornblower]

Re: Lancet - Dogs & Cats Can Be Reservoirs for MRSA

more on animal-human sharing of MRSA here; it appears MRSA can be transmitted from licking - does not require a bite; this is recent info (posted June 5/09)

http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/06/05/mrsa-infections-increasing-in-frequency-owner-transmission-a-factor/

For a personal look at how one dog & owner's life has been turned upside down by MRSA, check out Christie Keith's series of blog posts about her borzoi's case.
most recent one is here:

http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/03/30/spring-is-for-superbugs/

links within to previous posts

[german-docter]

Re: Lancet - Dogs & Cats Can Be Reservoirs for MRSA

Another finding:


Correscponence:
N Engl J Med, Vol. 358 (Nr. 11) March 13, 2008: page 1200 ? 1201

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a Family and Its Pet Cat

To the Editor: Many isolates of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) produce Panton?Valentine leukocidin (PVL), increasing the virulence of the bacteria, which can cause disseminated deep abscesses and necrotizing pneumonia.1 We report the transmission of PVL-positive MRSA between a symptomatic woman and both her asymptomatic family and their healthy pet cat.

An otherwise healthy woman presented with recurrent multiple deep abscesses. Swabs from several abscesses and nasal cultures grew MRSA that was resistant to both beta-lactam and fusidic acid antibiotics. Polymerase-chain-reaction assays for the PVL genes lukS-PV and lukF-PV were positive. The genotype of the staphylococcal chromosomal cassette was SCCmec type IV. Nasal, axillary, and inguinal cultures from her husband and their two children yielded MRSA on several occasions. Mupirocin nasal ointment and antiseptic washes were recommended for all family members. Although the patient's husband and children became MRSA-negative, the patient remained MRSA-positive. Therefore, her three apparently healthy cats were screened. Pharyngeal culture from one cat grew MRSA with the same antimicrobial resistance pattern as that of the human isolates. The clonal identity of the isolates from the family and the cats was found by typing of the spa gene repeat region and multilocus sequence typing,2,3 which showed spa-type t131 and ST80 in all isolates. This sequence combination does not correspond with that of clone USA300 (http://spa.ridom.de).2
A veterinarian recommended topical decolonization of the MRSA-positive cat with ciprofloxacin and rifampin. Four weeks after the cat's treatment, screening tests of the family were negative for MRSA. Moreover, the patient's deep abscesses completely resolved. Further MRSA screening of the asymptomatic cat was declined by the family.
There is evidence that companion animals, mainly dogs, harbor MRSA,4 and interspecies MRSA transmission has been shown in the members of a family and their dog.5 This case illustrates that MRSA transmission also occurs between humans and cats. The abscesses in our patient cleared only after antibiotic treatment of the cat. It remains unclear whether the cat was the source of the patient's infection or vice versa, although spa-type t131 is extremely rare in humans.2 We conclude that pets should be considered as possible household reservoirs of MRSA that can cause infection or reinfection in humans.

Andreas Sing, M.D.
Christian Tuschak, Ph.D.
Stefan H?rmansdorfer, Vet.D.
Bavarian Food and Health Safety Authority
85764 Oberschlei?heim, Germany

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/358/11/1200

[sharon sanders]

Re: Lancet - Dogs & Cats Can Be Reservoirs for MRSA

Thanks everyone. I think the relevance of this topic is very timely with the sad case of the teenager dying in New York.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112181

[Lizw]

Re: Lancet - Dogs & Cats Can Be Reservoirs for MRSA

[B]Bite-related and septic syndromes caused by cats and dogsAn emerging syndrome in veterinary and human medicine is meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections shared between pets and human handlers, particularly community-acquired MRSA disease involving the USA300 clone. Skin, soft-tissue, and surgical infections are the most common. MRSA-associated infections in pets are typically acquired from their owners and can potentially cycle between pets and their human acquaintances.

My daughter, who works in animal rescue and also a program for feral cats, warned me about something else in regard to animals and MRSA. She said that a favorite place for staph to hide is in the ears of floppy-eared dogs. So it's important to keep an eye on them and keep them clean.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Lancet - Dogs & Cats Can Be Reservoirs for MRSA

machinetranslation

Sunday 12/19/2010

Can be transmitted from pets sairaalabakteeri ihmiseenkin

MRSA is a bacterium found in domestic animals in Finland a few times already.
STT
Domestic animals have been found more and more hospital bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.

Food Safety Evira the MRSA bacteria are found in domestic animals in Finland a few times already. This is generally for domestic animals is also found in antibiotic-resistant bacteria MRSP. University Animal Hospital Small Animal Hospital was the first small MRSP epidemic in November.

Sairaalabakteeri can spread from animal to human contact. Mainly cats and dogs occur in MRSP's transmission to humans is extremely unlikely, but rarer in animals sairaalabakteeri MRSA can be transmitted from animals to humans or vice versa.

Public Health Institute (THL), in Finland there are a few cases where humans and pets has been found to be the same sairaalabakteeri.

Animal Hospital infectious diseases specialist veterinarian, Merja Rantala, estimates that the hospital even more bacteria are becoming more common in the future.

Sairaalabakteeri can lead to a sick animal infections, but outside the hospital bacteria carrying your pet can live normally.

http://www.ksml.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/lemmikkien-sairaalabakteeri-voi-tarttua-ihmiseenkin/629245

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Dogs & Cats Can Be Reservoirs for MRSA

From the UK; and horses can be a reservoir too.

Vet Rec. 2011 Apr 2;168(13):354. Epub 2011 Mar 23.

Prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant Escherichia coli in dogs in a cross-sectional, community-based study.

Wedley AL, Maddox TW, Westgarth C, Coyne KP, Pinchbeck GL, Williams NJ, Dawson S.

Department of Epidemiology and Population Health Research, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Neston, Cheshire CH64 7TE.

Abstract

The prevalence of carriage of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli was determined in 183 healthy dogs from a semi-rural community in Cheshire. Isolates were tested against a panel of antimicrobials and by PCR to detect resistance genes.

In the suspected ESBL-producing isolates, the presence of bla(SHV), bla(TEM), bla(CTX-M) and bla(AmpC) genes was determined by PCR and sequencing. A total of 53 (29 per cent, 95 per cent confidence interval [CI] 22.4 to 35.5 per cent) dogs carried at least one AMR E coli isolate. Twenty-four per cent (95 per cent CI 17.9 to 30.2 per cent) of dogs carried isolates resistant to ampicillin, 19.7 per cent (95 per cent CI 13.9 to 25.4 per cent) to tetracycline and 16.9 per cent (95 per cent CI 11.5 to 22.4 per cent) to trimethoprim. A bla(TEM) gene was detected in 39 of 54 ampicillin-resistant isolates, a tet(B) gene in 12 of 45 tetracycline-resistant isolates, and a dfr gene in 22 of 33 trimethoprim-resistant isolates.

Multidrug-resistant isolates were demonstrated in 15 per cent (28 of 183; 95 per cent CI 10.1 to 20.5 per cent) of dogs.

Nine suspected ESBL-producing E coli were isolated, of which only one was confirmed by double disc diffusion testing. Two of these isolates carried the bla(TEM-1) gene and seven carried the bla(CMY-2) gene.

pubmed