Animals & MRSA

June Editorial

How hard can it be to change the culture of care in the veterinary profession? Pretty hard, really, and that should be neither surprising nor unusual. It’s all very well to talk the talk, but when it comes to walking the walk, that a different matter.

Having said that, though, there are real signs of change taking place, and some of those signs are evident from the way Bob Partridge and Dr Freda Scott-Park, both senior figures at the BVA, have been talking over the past couple of months about MRSA and veterinary practice.

Vets and the wind of change

Andre Menache BSc(Hons) BVSc MRCVS FRSH - Scientific Consultant to Animal Aid

Bella's tragic story is not just about MRSA. As we enter the 21st century, it is also about accepting the winds of change. We can no longer ignore the growing public demand for transparency and accountability. At the same time, we as a profession need to show the public that veterinary surgeons are, after all, only human.

Our Dogs 18/05/05

THE PUBLIC profile of the organisation devoted to raising awareness of the growing incidence of MRSA in pets has grown dramatically in the past few months. Since its official launch at Crufts in March, the Bella Moss Foundation has started attracting attention across the regions of the UK.

Jill Moss, President and Founder of the charity, was busy on Friday the 13th speaking to local BBC radio stations from Essex to Belfast on the subject of pets and MRSA and the work of the Foundation.

VET TIMES 23/05/05

Robin Fearon

VETERINARIANS and methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA) don’t mix. Thats the opinion of Jill Moss, whose 10-year-old Samoyed dog BeIla died from complications related to the bacterium. That the infection was contracted at her trusted veterinary practice is the reason the media has publicised the event so widely and she has the bacterial reports to prove her claim.

The case has moved up the hitlist of pet owners ciaims against the veterinary profession in recent months, drawng serious attention from both the BSAVA and the BVHA. It is an issue with the potential to divide the profession into those who would like the issue to go away and those determined to introduce measures to prevent the spread of infection through veterinary surgeries.