Link: ScienceDirect - Journal of Hospital Infection
Pet therapy has been shown to improve the wellbeing of patients, and is becoming routine in many hospitals.1 There are currently approximately 4000 dogs participating in schemes across the UK (www. petsastherapy.org). It has been previously advised that veterinarians should routinely screen all animals for skin infections and gastrointestinal pathogens.1 We report an 11-year-old border collie that acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a district general hospital in the UK after visiting care-of-the-elderly wards. The dog and owner were asymptomatic and had no observed source of MRSA. Swabs from the dog’s nose, scalp and interdigital folds of paws were taken before and after visiting the wards. Swabs were pooled and cultured in nutrient broth containing 7% salt at 30 8C for 24 h and then subcultured to Baird Parker agar with ciprofloxacin (8 mg/L) at 37 8C for 48 h. Only the swabs taken after the ward visit grew MRSA (tube coagulase positive, mannitol fermenting Staphylococcus species). The antibiotic susceptibility profile was typical of MRSA found in the hospital. The mecA gene was detected by polymerase chain reaction. The isolate was confirmed as MRSA and genotyping by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) showed it to be a variant of EMRSA-15 (Staphylococcus Reference Laboratory, Health Protection Agency, Colindale, UK). Following receipt of this result, two other pet therapy dogs were screened before visiting the hospital and were found to be MRSA negative. Sites were individually cultured and not pooled as was done on the initial screen. MRSA screening of the index dog two weeks later was negative. It was not possible to trace individual patients that the dog had visited. Isolates from seven known MRSA patients on the wards visited by the dog were characterized phenotypically and genotypically. All seven isolates were identified as EMRSA-15 and displayed five different PFGE patterns. All differed from the dog isolate. MRSA is an important cause of nosocomial infection.2
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