PLoS ONE (Jan 2011)

Transmission of MRSA between companion animals and infected human patients presenting to outpatient medical care facilities.

  • Jorge Pinto Ferreira,
  • Kevin L Anderson,
  • Maria T Correa,
  • Roberta Lyman,
  • Felicia Ruffin,
  • L Barth Reller,
  • Vance G Fowler

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0026978
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 11
p. e26978

Abstract

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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a significant pathogen in both human and veterinary medicine. The importance of companion animals as reservoirs of human infections is currently unknown. The companion animals of 49 MRSA-infected outpatients (cases) were screened for MRSA carriage, and their bacterial isolates were compared with those of the infected patients using Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). Rates of MRSA among the companion animals of MRSA-infected patients were compared to rates of MRSA among companion animals of pet guardians attending a "veterinary wellness clinic" (controls). MRSA was isolated from at least one companion animal in 4/49 (8.2%) households of MRSA-infected outpatients vs. none of the pets of the 50 uninfected human controls. Using PFGE, patient-pets MRSA isolates were identical for three pairs and discordant for one pair (suggested MRSA inter-specie transmission p-value = 0.1175). These results suggest that companion animals of MRSA-infected patients can be culture-positive for MRSA, representing a potential source of infection or re-infection for humans. Further studies are required to better understand the epidemiology of MRSA human-animal inter-specie transmission.