Animals & MRSA

Product Directory

Products Page Disclaimer:

Visitors to the Pets MRSA Products Page should note the following; Pets-MRSA.com does not recommend or endorse any company or product mentioned or described on this page.

Products mainly for health and business settings

Surrey Diagnostics
Web site
A veterinary diagnostics laboratory, specialising in infectious pathogens

Airocide
www.airocide.co.uk
Airocide produces a system for destroying airborne pathogens in a range of environments.

Acolyte Biomedica Limited
www.acolytebiomedica.com
Acolyte Biomedica is a company specialising in rapid identification of bacteria. The website is easy to use and contains information on technology, applications and products as well as other information. 

Activated Oxygen
www.activatedoxygen.co.uk
Activated Oxygen Ltd supplies a treatment for MRSA infection based on ozone.

Bioquell
www.bioquell.com
Bioquell uses hydrogen peroxide in a bio-decontamination process.

Camfil
www.camfil.com
Camfil produces air filtration equipment for use in health settings. The website is relatively easy to use.

Cleenol
www.cleenol.co.uk
Cleenol produces cleaning products for the catering, healthcare and engineering industries.

Phage International
phageinternational.com
This website contains information on the use and application of phages in the treatment of bacteriological infections.

Secomet
www.secomet.com
Secomet offers pharmaceutical products to deal with the super bug called Secomet B.

Sterilox
www.sterilox.co.uk
Sterilox produces disinfectant for use on surgical equipment. Some research details are available.

Products also for use in the home

B Braun
http://www.bbraun.co.uk/
Braun offers disinfectant and hygiene products for use in home and health settings. Website has a lot of photos so takes a little while to load.

BioCote
www.biocote.com
BioCote is company producing antimicrobial products for home and business. The website is easy to navigate and information on products is available.

Hygieia Pharmaceuticals
www.hygieia.co.uk
Hygieia Pharmaceuticals offer hygiene products based on the Brian Bennet Formula.

Inpace Ltd
www.inpace.com
Inpace supply keyboard covers and covers for other items in order to reduce bacterial contamination.

NewGenn
www.newgenn.com
NewGenn offers animal and alcohol-free anti-microbial products for home, health and leisure.

Quistel Products
www.actigeneruk.co.uk
Actigeneruk is the website of 'Quistel' which produces shampoo and other products for dogs and other animals. The website is bright and clear and relatively easy to use.

QBased Solutions
www.qbased.com
Qbased Solutions offer products for a range of human and pet health problems.

Pearson and Black
www.pearsonandblack.co.uk
Pearson and Black offer cleaning products for use in home and business.

A-Z Powerklean
www.a-zpowerklean.co.uk
A-Z Powerklean offer a product that functions as a cleaner, disinfectant, degreaser and sanitiser all-in-one. The website is under construction but a contact number can be found on the webpage.

Sentinel International Limited
www.sentinelint.com
Sentinel manufactures and sells a sterilisation product for use in health settings.

Steris
www.steris.com
Steris produces a range of decontamination products for use in home and industry/health settings.

May Update

May brings more cases of MRSA infections in companion animals, including a case in New Hampshire that had gone on for over a year. That was particularly troubling as the vet who had originally performed the surgery refused any contact with the owner once the MRSA was identified, and it took a second vet to investigate and discover a three-and-a-half inch drain that had been left in the un-healing wound.

More evidence for MRSA in animals

Important research into Animals and MRSA is being undertaken by Mick Rich at IDEXX laboratories. He has published several articles on MRSA in companion animals. The file for download below has an article appearing in Veterinary Microbiology. It contains information on the 210 incidences of MRSA colonisation found so far by him and his fellow researchers.

Click the link below to download the article. You will need Acrobat Reader

Download mrsa_in_animals_letter_veterinary_microbiology.pdf

Dogs Today June

Dont let the vet bugs bite

Written by Karen Redpath Illustration by Kevin Brockbank

Our article on the animal victims of the hospital super-bug MRSA sparked worldwide interest. Jill Moss, owner of Bella - the first recorded dog to have died from the killer infection, set up the Bella Moss Foundation to raise awareness of the problem and has now been awarded charity status.

Jill's tireless hard work in educating people via the website www. pets-mrsa.com and liaising with the media has paid off. She receives around 300 enquiries a month from pet owners across the UK and beyond, and has been interviewed for London Tonight, GMTV, the Daily Mail, Radio 5 Live, The Independent and News 24 South Africa, to name but a few.

Jill has also been invited by DEFRA to become a member of their DARC (DEFRA Anti microbial Resistance Co-ordination) subgroup on MRSA and animals. This means she will contribute to all future meetings. All this media attention seems to have worried the veterinary profession, and the British Veterinary Association (BVA) has issued a press release to the national press, playing down fears generated by Jill's campaign.

Your Dog April

Vets urged to wear masks

Dog owners are being told not to panic over fears relating to MRSA in pets. The president-elect of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), Dr Freda Scott-Park, is appealing to people to remain calm, stating that the incidence of MRSA in pets is "very, very low", although she also urged vets to take precautions to prevent a rise in the number of cases.

Dr Scott-Park said: "Current scientific evidence supports the opinion that the risk of pet-transmitted MRSA is small and that owners who undertake hygienic precautions are at minimal risk. MRSA does not normally harm healthy people." Despite this the BVA has provided vets with detailed information about the potential dangers of MRSA.

She said: "We are urging vets to adopt best practice and take precautions - by using sterile gloves, masks and scrub suits during operations - to prevent animals getting the organism."

But according to Jill Moss of The Bella Moss Foundation Charity, whose Samoyed Bella was the first dog recorded as dying from the disease in the UK, merely urging vets to take better precautions does not go far enough.

Our Dogs April 22nd

MRSA in pets Campaigner speaks at summit

Jill Moss, whose own dog Bella died after contracting the disease, attended the Cleaner Hospitals Summit at London's Hilton Hotel last Thursday, where delegates reacted with great interest - and alarm - to her account of how the disease is now affecting pets as well as humans.

Jill Moss says: "I attended the Patients' Summit where many issues concerning MRSA and healthcare were discussed. During the opening speeches agony aunt and Bella Moss advisor Claire Rayner announced that I was present and asked me to stand up and display the brochure, which generated a huge amount of interest. Claire has been an amazing support and for that we thank her."

 

Dog Show Review

Link: Dog Show Review

JILL MOSS, the founder of the Bella Moss Foundation which was formed to raise awareness of the growing number of cases of MRSA, has recently been exchanging ideas and information with healthcare professionals involved in the fight against MRSA.

Moss, whose own dog Bella died after contracting the disease,  attended the Cleaner Hospitals Summit at London’s Hilton Hote

Click the link above for the full article

PetOwnersOnline.com

Link: PetOwnersOnline.com.

MRSA in pets – 'No animal should ever suffer in this way'

PetOwnersOnline talks to television actress Jill Moss who has put her career on hold in order to raise awareness of the disease that took the life of her beloved pet…

Television actress Jill Moss, who has appeared in The Bill and Eastenders, lost her dog after it contracted a human strain of MRSA in August 2004.

Jill, 34, from Edgware, Middlesex, was devastated to lose her white Samoyed after a wound became infected following surgery on a knee.

Bella’s was the first recorded case of a dog dying of MRSA in the UK.

Jill has now set up an animal charity, The Bella Moss Foundation, in memory of her dog. The charity is raising money to promote new research on MRSA and other serious infections affecting companion animals, and to set up a veterinary clinic specialising in infection control for pets with MRSA.

Click the link above for the whole feature

More academic insight

Academic researchers and media researchers may be interested to follow up the following articles which reference the issue of MRSA and animals

1. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from companion animals. Rich M & L Roberts. The Veterinary Record. March 6, 2004.

2. Identification of healthcare-associated MRSA in Companion animals. Companion animals and MRSA: a potential reservoir? Kearns AM, Rich M, Roberts L, Cookson BD & Holmes A. 11th International Symposium on Staphylococci and Staphylococcal infections. Charleston, USA, October 2004.

3. Methicillin-resistant staphylococci isolated from animals. Rich M, Roberts L & A Kearns. Veterinary Microbiology 105 (2005) 313-314.

4. Clindamycin-resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated form animals (Letter). Rich M & L Roberts. The Veterinary Record. February 12, 2005.

5. Staphylococci in animals: prevalence, identification and antimicrobial susceptibility, with an emphasis on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. (Review). Rich M. Br J Bo[Rich, Mick] i med Sic 2005; 62(2). In press.

6. Clindamycin-resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from animals. Rich M, Dighton L and Roberts L. Veterinary Microbiology. 2005. In Press.

Vets & MRSA

Link: Veterinary Nursing Journal

This will take you to a very helpful article on MRSA and animals. Scroll down to page 11