Higher MRSA rate in cats, dogs than people may signal need for more vet antibiotic oversight

News brief
Topics
MRSA
Antimicrobial Stewardship
Young man with cat on couch
Chalabala / iStock

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was much more prevalent in lab samples from cats and dogs (17.8%) than from people seeking outpatient care (5.4%) in Germany, reveals a study published today in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

The Freie Universitat Berlin–led research team said the results suggest the need for validation of restriction and regulation of veterinary antibiotic use with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance.

The researchers compared MRSA prevalence from human surveillance data with that from the results of 175,171 laboratory bacterial diagnostic samples of cats and dogs treated at 3,491 veterinary practices from January 2019 to December 2021. The animal samples (blood, urine, and tissue) represented 33.1% of German veterinary clinics.

Causing mild to life-threatening illness, MRSA was the second-largest cause of attributable deaths and disability in Europe from 2016 to 2020 and is a World Health Organization high-priority pathogen.

MRSA more common in dogs than cats

The research team identified S aureus in 5,526 animal samples (3.2%), with 17.8% of them methicillin-resistant. S aureus was more prevalent in cats (5.6%) than dogs (2.0%), but methicillin resistance was higher in dogs (20.4%) than cats (15.6%). Overall, the MRSA rate remained steady throughout the study period.

Companion animals and humans share lifestyle factors and living environments, resulting in close physical interactions, with hugs, kisses and shared sleeping spaces.

S aureus was isolated from 6.0% of 16, 111 wound, 4.4% of 21 ,398 respiratory tract, 2.6% of the 67 ,293 skin/soft tissue, and 2.6% of 70, 370 other samples.MRSA was more prevalent in canine wounds (32%) than in other sample types (under 23%); there was no difference among cat sample types.

Of MRSA-positive samples, 13% to 14% were resistant to sulfamethoxazole  plus  trimethoprim and gentamicin, while resistance in chloramphenicol, doxycycline and rifampicin was seen in under 6%. 

Farmed animals such as pigs have shown double the rate of MRSA than companion animals, but the authors said that companion and farmed animals rarely interact in Germany. 

"Instead, companion animals and humans share lifestyle factors and living environments, resulting in close physical interactions, with hugs, kisses and shared sleeping spaces," they wrote.

Quick takes: Avian flu in Antarctic seal, more US measles, imported Oropouche virus in Europe

News brief
Topics
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
Measles
Oropouche Virus
  • Spanish researchers yesterday reported the first detection of highly pathogenic H5 avian flu in a sea mammal in Antarctica. The positive samples were from a carcass of an elephant seal on the Coppermine Peninsula of Robert Island. The scientists are part of a research expedition that in March collected samples from different South Shetland islands to look for avian flu. The samples were frozen, then analyzed at a lab in Spain. Earlier this year, virus was found in sea mammals in the subantarctic area of South Georgia island, as well as in birds on Antarctica's mainland.
  • US states and jurisdictions continue to track new measles cases and exposures, including Washington, DC, where health officials on July 12 announced that they were notified about a confirmed case in a person who had visited multiple locations in the district while infectious. Elsewhere, local media reports said two measles infections in adults have been reported at a migrant shelter in Brooklyn, New York. Also, Oregon health officials announced two new cases, both in unvaccinated children from Marion County, according to a media report. The infections were diagnoses on July 11 and July 12, and the children had no known public exposures.
  • Italy and Spain recently reported imported cases of Oropouche virus, an insect-borne disease, in travelers who returned from Cuba, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in its most recent weekly communicable disease report. Each country reported three cases. Cuba is experiencing its first outbreak involving the virus, which is typically spread through the bite of the Culicoides paraensis midge. The ECDC said the risk of secondary transmission in Europe is low because of the absence of known vectors in the region.

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