By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,MRSA/MRSPI’ve written about this many times (probably because I get asked about it almost every day), but there’s not really a simple answer to the question “Does methicillin-resistant Staph. pseudintermedius pose a human health risk?” My typical answer is along the lines of “Yes, but…” with discussion about how rare Staph pseudintermedius (SP) infections are in… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in MRSA/MRSP,Parasites,Salmonella,ToxoplasmosisPresentations from the 2015 Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses (CPHAZ) Symposium are now on YouTube on the Worms & Germs Blog channel. There is a wide range of talks, including topics such as West Nile virus, Lyme disease, salmonellosis, MRSA, Toxoplasma and various other zoonotic diseases.… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,Horses,MRSA/MRSP,Other animalsI realize this is outside of the scope of most readers (so let me apologize in advance for some wasted electrons), but here’s a quick announcement of the 4th ASM/ESCMID Conference on methicillin-resistant staphylococci in animals; animals and human health implications. (Yes, the name’s a bit long and drawn out, and I probably take the… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in MRSA/MRSPMethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria are big problems. They account for millions of illnesses, thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in costs every year internationally. Antibiotic-resistance is a complex issue, but some people try to over-simplify (and under-analyse) the problem. A recent article on Examiner.com is an example. Entitled "MRSA cases… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in MRSA/MRSPWhile it shouldn’t come as a surprise considering other studies, a recent study in PLoS One (O’Brien et al 2012) has caused a bit of a stir in the US. This study, headed up by Dr. Tara Smith’s research group in Iowa, looked for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in retail pork. They bought pork from… Continue Reading
By LexBlog Admin on Posted in MRSA/MRSPAs MRSA in animals gets more attention, there have been increasing efforts to develop guidelines to reduce the incidence and impact of this important zoonotic pathogen. Among these are a set of recommendations developed in Finland for the prevention and control of MRSA infections in animals (or metisilliiniresistentti Staphylococcus aureus, as they would say in Finnish). … Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in MRSA/MRSPThe British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) has updated its practice guidelines for management of MRSA and MRSP. Overall, there’s good information in the document with an emphasis on routine infection control as the key measure to reduce the impact of MRSP and MRSA. I’d like to see more emphasis on developing an overall infection… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in MRSA/MRSPBites from the brown recluse spider (see photo left) can be pretty nasty, and produce tissue damage similar to a typical MRSA skin and soft tissue infection. Despite the epidemic of MRSA that’s ongoing in many regions, particularly the US, MRSA infections are still sometimes misdiagnosed as spider bites. To a degree, I can see why this… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in MRSA/MRSPAs multidrug-resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) become more common in pets, there are increasing questions about how to manage animals that carry them. A particular issue is what to do with carriers – animals that don’t have any sign of disease but still carry the bacterium. A small but increasing percentage of healthy… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in MRSA/MRSPIt’s amazing how attached people are to their cell phones. Many people will answer them without any thought of what else is going on. It’s something I’ve seen in veterinary hospitals where wireless or cell phones are the primary mode of internal communication. The natural tendency to answer the phone often overrides the thought process… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in MRSA/MRSPThis is a question I get a few times a week. Because methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) infections are becoming so common and people are aware of potential concerns regarding transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from pets to people, it’s a logical concern. Here’s my basic thought process when answering this common question: Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is very… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in MRSA/MRSPAntibiotic resistant bacteria are a huge problem in human medicine, and they’re an increasing problem in veterinary medicine. In pets, we are seeing dramatic increases in multidrug-resistant bacteria, some as a result of transmission from humans and some that are developing in animals. Regardless of the source, infections caused by resistant bacteria are a major… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,MRSA/MRSP.An article about a therapy dog demonstrates some good points of these programs and places to improve. The story is about "Taco", a Chihuahua involved in pet therapy at the Livingston Regional Hospital (Tennessee). The obvious benefit of the program is highlighted by the owner’s comment "She creates smiles when there were none." There are… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,MRSA/MRSP,Other diseasesWhen I talk about methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP), I usually say that the human health risks are low because human infections are very rare. However, rare doesn’t mean it can’t happen, as demonstrated by a case report entitled "Beware of the Pet Dog: A Case of Staphylococcus intermedius Infection" published in the American Journal of… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Horses,MRSA/MRSPAt the ongoing ASM-ESCMID conference on methicillin resistant staphylococci in animals, Dr. Engeline van Duijkeren of Utrecht University (The Netherlands) presented a study on an outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in their equine hospital. From 2006-2008, several horses that underwent surgery at their hospital developed MRSA infections. MRSA was also isolated from some healthy… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,MRSA/MRSPMore from the ASM-ESCMID MRSA in animals meeting… Dr. Joe Rubin presented some data on antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus bacteria from dogs and people in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada). The bacterial isolates came from dogs carrying S. aureus and from dogs infected with MRSA. When you look at the resistance patterns of the S. aureus… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,MRSA/MRSPPeople sometimes panic after they hear that their pet has been diagnosed with an MRSA infection. ("Dr. Google" doesn’t help because if you search "MRSA" you can come up with a lot of scary information). However, it’s very important to understand that just because MRSA is involved, it does not mean that an animal (or… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,MRSA/MRSPI’m in London (UK) for the ASM-ESCMID conference on methicillin-resistant staphylococci in animals: veterinary and public health consequences. I’ll provide various updates on interesting presentations over the next few days. Dr. Armando Hoet from the Ohio State University (OSU) presented data on MRSA screening of dogs admitted to the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. They sampled… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,MRSA/MRSPWhen it comes to methicillin-resistant staphylococci in pets, MRSA (methicillin-resistant S. aureus) gets most of the attention. That’s fair since it’s emerging as an important health problem, and can be transmitted between pets and people. Now another staph, MRSP (methicillin-resistant S. pseudintermedius) is getting more attention, and it’s actually a more common cause of infections… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,MRSA/MRSPMethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are an emerging problem in dogs and cats. They’re a huge problem in human medicine, and the emergence of MRSA in pets can be directly traced to the spread of MRSA in people. A big problem with MRSA infections is that they can be difficult to treat because they can be resistant to… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,MRSA/MRSPI received a flyer from Zoologix, a company that offers various (typically unvalidated and unproven) PCR tests for animals. The flyer headline was "Pets can carry MRSA – but testing can help." Testing in certain situations is useful, but this is almost always limited to diagnosis of animals with active infections (i.e. they’re sick). PCR… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,MRSA/MRSPA recent question: "If a dog has severe atopy that is poorly managed, and is colonized w/ MRSA (superficial dermatidis on neck ventrum and axilla) are repeat infections w/ MRSA likely, if the allergies cannot be controlled?" Dogs with atopy (allergic skin disease) are prone to opportunistic infections because of the abnormal skin "environment" and… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,MRSA/MRSPThere’s been a lot of talk (hype) in the press about pet bites and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). This relates to a paper in Lancet Infectious Diseases regarding infections associated with pet bites. Some press articles are more sensational than others, but most are taking the bite infection paper and building in unrelated comments about MRSA in… Continue Reading
