United States – Dogs and cats may be able to transfer antibiotic resistant bacteria to owners through close contact, which has led to fears that household pets may be contributing to the global problem of antibiotic resistance, a new paper identifies.
Evidence demonstrates that ill dog and cat owners have contracted this superbug from their infected pets in the UK and Portugal, as detailed in a research paper published at the ESCMID Global Congress held in Barcelona, as reported by HealthDay.
Humans Aren’t the Sole Carriers
The cases challenge “the traditional belief that humans are the main carriers of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in the community,” said lead researcher Juliana Menezes, a doctoral student with the University of Lisbon’s Antibiotic Resistance Lab.
The World Health Organization indicates antibiotic resistance as one of humanity’s most serious public health challenges, which they underline in the statement.
This year, more than one and a half line deaths will be caused by drug resistant infections according to statistics. This ratio is forecasted to rise up to 10 million by 2050 if no countermeasures are applied.
Unveiling the Pet-Human Connection
The study applied to 43 Portuguese households with 78 inhabitants, 38 dogs, and 5 cats, and 22 British households with 56 people and 22 canines.
Every human was healthy, but all dogs were ill with various ailments. Researchers tested fecal and urine samples in addition to skin swabs taken from the pets and owners and then looked for antibacterial-resistant bacteria among them.
The researchers’ study not only showed but also demonstrated five households, in which both the owners, along with the cats and dogs, were to be blamed equally for being carriers of bacteria that had developed resistance to cephalosporins.
Genetic analysis revealed that strains were actually matched, meaning that the bugs connected the two.
Cephalosporins are to deal with more than a variety of infections like meningitis, pneumonia, and sepsis, the scientists agree. They are the most on the World Health Organization’s class A critically important antibiotics for human medicine.
In addition, researchers who found these bacteria in dogs suspected that the bacteria could be resistant against carbapenems, which are the last line of defense in human medicine when other antibiotics no longer work.
Once, it was difficult to show which one had initiated the movement, scientists explained. Nevertheless, in three of the Portuguese houses, the timing of the positive tests was quite robust and may indicate the origin of the bacteria as being the pets rather than the human.
Pet Hygiene and Health Measures
Contact between pets and humans who have got infections happen through simple affection – petting, touching and kissing. Additionally, they can spread via processing or exchange of feces.
Scientists urge that owners should completely clean their hands after petting their dog or cat and as they are cleaning their litter box, as reported by HealthDay.
Finally, all the pets were successfully treated by the contraction of their infections, researchers noted.
“Our findings underline the importance of including pet-owning households in national programs that monitor levels of antibiotic resistance,” Menezes said in a meeting news release. “Learning more about the resistance in pets would aid in the development of informed and targeted interventions to safeguard both animal and human health.”
These results should be regarded as preliminary until they are published in a peer-reviewed publication because they were presented at a medical convention.