http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23580386/

Drug-resistant staph could be swapped between animals and owners

As if all the angst about drug-resistant staph bacteria wasn’t worrisome enough, now it turns out you might get the deadly germ from your cat.

Suspicions about that calico on the couch are being raised this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. German scientists reported that a woman endured a series of nasty abscesses caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA, until a veterinarian screened — and treated — the family cat.

It’s not an isolated case, or critter, according to researchers in the U.S. and Canada who are studying the connection between pets, people and this dangerous, drug-resistant bug linked to more than 94,000 infections and nearly 19,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2005.

“We’ve found MRSA in dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs — even marine mammals,” said J. Scott Weese, an associate professor of pathobiology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Horses and cows also are routinely affected.

Owners should be aware, but not worried, about the possibility of getting MRSA from their pets, said Weese, who is part of a team led by researchers at the University of Missouri, Columbia, studying the prevalence of MRSA in humans and companion animals.


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MsLegs said:

"Owners should be aware, but not worried"

would it be obvious your pet had MRSA?

My cat has a perfect bill of health,eats healthy food, doesn't frequent outside, or lounge on furniture.

i have MRSA. though i don't have an active infection at the moment.

I thought I read somewhere that putting one drop of oregano oil in your pets water will eliminate this plus many other things.
But you shouldn't put any more than one drop, it very potent stuff.

horatio said:

horatio said:

No.

rushing07 said:

[/quote]
The Dog is smiling for candid camera.