ANTIBIOTIC-resistant bacteria such as MRSA tend to be associated with hospitals, but household pets are also helping superbugs to spread.
Richard Oehler of the University of South Florida in Tampa reviewed studies from the last decade of people who caught infections from their pets, either through bites or other contact. He found that a significant portion of infections were antibiotic-resistant, including some caused by the dreaded methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. One analysis found that 35 per cent of S. aureus samples taken from cats and dogs were MRSA (The Lancet, vol 9, p 439).
Oehler suggests that the rise in antibiotic-resistant infections in people means pets are also more likely to be infected. They then act as "reservoirs" that reinfect humans. "Finding MRSA in a pet doesn't mean the pet was the original source," says the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.