The deadly hospital superbug MRSA has spread to pets, experts warned last night. Now scientists believe that the bug, which kills 5,000 NHS patients every year, could become just as widespread in veterinary clinics.
An expert at the Royal Veterinary College called for urgent action to alert vets and pet owners to the danger. Professor David Lloyd said: ‘Vets may not be looking out for MRSA, and more and more infected animals are being referred to us.‘If we’re not careful, veterinary hospitals will become as badly affected as NHS hospitals. There must be more research.’
The risk of infection between animals and humans is slim, but a sick pet is more likely to contract MRSA from a human than vice versa. Scores of pets have been hit by MRSA but only one, a ten-year-old pedigree Samoyed dog, is known to have died. The animal, called Bella, suffered blood poisoning, pneumonia and organ failure caused by MRSA after an operation on a hind leg.
Bella’s owner, actress Jill Moss, 34, said last night: ‘It has been a terrible experience. Bella was my companion for more than eight years. She was a real personality and my best friend. I lost my partner in a plane crash four years ago and Bella and I were inseparable.
‘In July she ruptured a cruciate ligament while chasing a squirrel. Fixing the problem is a routine operation — a lot of footballers have it - but the wound became infected. ‘I kept getting conflicting opinions about what was wrong with her and she was given various drugs. By the time they identified MRSA, it was too late.
‘Having her put to sleep was the hardest decision of my life, but she was in agony. By that stage, veterinary nurses didn’t want to treat her because they were scared of becoming infected.’
Bella died in August and Miss Moss who has appeared in TV shows including The Bill, Birds Of A Feather and EastEnders, has created a website warning other pet owners to be on their guard. She added: ‘Vets aren’t waking up fast enough to the possibility of animal infections like this. I can’t bring back Bella but I can warn other owners.’
Sixty years ago, most post-operative infections in humans could be controlled by antibiotics, but bugs have evolved to become resistant to methicillin, the synthetic form of penicillin. The staphylococcus aureus bacteria that causes MRSA is harmless to healthy people — it is carried by many in the nose and armpits but it can prove fatal for those with a weakened immune system, such as the sick and the elderly.
Dogs and cats do not commonly carry the bacteria, making it harder for them to pick up MRSA. Dr Alistair Gibson, of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association, said last night: ‘There is little risk of MRSA spreading from pets to humans if owners take common-sense hygiene precautions.’
• Jill Moss’s website is www.pets-mrsa.com
