Woman and Cat Shared 'Super Bug?'

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Woman and Cat Shared 'Super Bug'

By Serena Gordon

HealthDay ReporterWed Mar 12, 11:47 PM ET

WEDNESDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- People share their homes,

their food and more with their pets, but one thing you probably never

thought you could share with your animals is a drug-resistant staph

infection.

However, according to a letter in the March 13 issue of the New

England Journal of Medicine, a German family appears to have done

just that. Doctors were puzzled when a woman was repeatedly treated

for methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), yet still

kept coming back with the infection.

Eventually, they discovered that the family cat was harboring the

dangerous bacteria, sometimes called a " super bug. "

" Animals and especially pets or companion animals might serve as

reservoirs for human-pathogenic bacteria, " said Dr. Andreas Sing,

head of the department of infectiology at the Bavarian Food and

Health Safety Authority in Germany.

Before you give puss the boot, know that researchers believe it was

the woman who probably initially transmitted the bacteria to the cat,

not the other way around.

About 25 percent to 30 percent of Americans are colonized with staph

bacteria, but only about 1 percent are colonized with MRSA, according

to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most MRSA

infections occur in health-care settings, such as hospitals or

nursing homes, but the number of community-acquired infections is

growing. According to the CDC, about 12 percent of all MRSA

infections are now acquired in the community.

MRSA spreads through skin-to-skin contact with an infected person,

but its transmission has also been associated with contaminated

surfaces, crowded living conditions and poor hygiene, according to

the CDC.

MRSA infections often look like a boil or an inflamed pimple, and may

be red, swollen and draining pus, the CDC said.

The German woman was otherwise healthy, but kept getting multiple,

deep abscesses. Both the abscesses and nasal swabs tested positive

for MRSA. Her family members -- a husband and two children -- were

also tested, and they tested positive on several occasions. Nasal

ointments and antiseptic washes were prescribed for the family

to " decolonize " them.

The family members then tested negative for MRSA, but the woman kept

testing positive. Doctors then tested the woman's three cats, and

found that one, despite having no symptoms, was carrying the same

strain of MRSA. Once the cat was decolonized and both the cat and

woman were retreated with antibiotics, all family members -- human

and feline -- tested negative for the bacteria.

Sing and his colleagues pointed out that this is the first documented

MRSA infection in a cat, although there have been reports of other

animals, including dogs, harboring MRSA.

Because this infection is generally community-acquired, Sing thinks

it's more likely that the woman initially transmitted the bacteria to

her pet, and then the animal passed the infection back to her.

" Cats are social. They like to rub up against people and it's the

skin-to-skin contact that passes MRSA, " explained Dr. Matthew Sims,

director of the infectious disease research program at Beaumont

Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich.

But, he added, " People shouldn't start worrying about having pets.

They can carry all sorts of things which we've known about forever,

but you don't need to get rid of your cats or other animals. "

Sims said that if you suspect you might have a MRSA infection, go to

your doctor for treatment and let your doctor know if you have other

people or pets in your household so your doctor can recommend

appropriate treatment or prevention steps for them.

The best way to prevent these infections, Sims said, is to practice

good hygiene and wash your hands frequently. If you know you have a

MRSA infection, avoid direct contact with other people and animals

until you've been treated.

 

Val