Can Dog staph infections spread to humans? A Comprehensive Guide

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Does My Dog Have a Staph Infection?

Other than your dog, you will be the first to notice that something isn’t quite right with your furry family member. Your distressed pet will exhibit some signs of having staph infection.

  • Skin inflammation
  • Hair loss
  • Pustules
  • Uncontrollable itching (dogs will exhibit this by scratching, licking, and biting at their skin)
  • Lack of appetite
  • Fever
  • Other infections caused by spreading of staph bacteria

    • Staph can be gained from other dogs as well as humans, whether that’s you, a neighbor, dog groomer, or any other “carrier” they encounter. There are a few other ways staph can develop, however, including:

  • Medical equipment, particularly needles, that aren’t properly sterilized
  • Staph bacteria enter the body by way of a wound caused by persistent itching from fleas, ticks or allergies
  • A weak immune system causes more susceptibility to staph

    • Proper diagnosis for your pet is always best received from a veterinarian. At the vet’s office, one or more of the following may be requested to determine if staph is present:

  • Physical examination
  • Urinalysis
  • Blood work
  • Review of medical history
  • Skin biopsy

    • Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is a bug that’s found in and on most dogs. Most of the time, it doesn’t do anything to us when we encounter it. We have barriers like our skin and immune system to fight off such foreign invaders. When those barriers are compromised, the risk of infection goes up. Preventing infections comes down to very basic precautions like:

    Here’s a pot pourri of reports of staphylococcal infections in humans linked to dogs. Specifically, they’re infections caused by Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, a common dog-adapted species of Staphylococcus. (If you get freaked out reading these, make sure you read the end of the post so you also get the context.)

    But there are many more reports of human disease caused by S. pseudintermedius. Are zoonotic infections increasing?

    One last thing that often gets forgotten: People should make sure their physician knows they have contact with animals, and physicians should ask about animal contact. Most of the time it’s not relevant, but it only takes a few seconds and can provide important information in certain cases.

    A 41-year-old man with a history of skin disease and receiving parenteral nutrition (i.e. being fed intravenously) presented with fever, and developed a recurrent infection of the access port of his indwelling intravenous catheter. Staph pseudintermedius was isolated from him and his dog. They recommended he get rid of his dog.

    Is my dog contagious to me or to other pets?

    No. All dogs, cats, and people have Staphylococcus living on the skin as a normal resident. The infection occurs only if the skin is damaged or there is an underlying medical condition.

    Can Dogs Get a Staph Infection from Humans? | Wag!

    MRSA infections have become a major concern in hospitals, but few people are aware that animals and humans can infect each other.

    In the United States, one in three people carries a staph bacterium, an opportunistic pathogen causing hospital and community infections worldwide. Healthy people infected by this agent usually can be treated by an antibiotic.

    One specific staph bacterium, however, called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), carries a gene that proves resistant to the most common antimicrobial drugs. This makes it difficult to treat, and it can even be life threatening among immunocompromised people: the very old or very young, diabetics and people who had recent surgery or have open wounds.

    MRSA has been on the rise and well known for many years, especially in hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis centers and other health care settings. It also can be transmitted in the community via skin-to-skin contact among groups such as child care workers.

    What is less well known about MRSA is that pet owners can transmit it to their dogs, cats, birds and other animals — and vice versa. Since 2005, Professor Armando Hoet, director of the Veterinary Public Health Program at The Ohio State University, has studied MRSA in veterinary settings, including among dogs brought to the university’s Veterinary Medical Center.

    “If a dog has MRSA, a person is the most likely source,” Hoet explained. “If someone in the house has MRSA, it can be transmitted to a pet through kissing, licking, bathing, or other direct contact with infected sites such as wounds.”

    The bacterium also can be spread in veterinary offices, kennels and other areas where pets may come into direct contact with other animals. Research showed that pure breeds and short-haired animals are more likely to be colonized, that is, to carry the MRSA bacterium, sometimes without symptoms of infection. Other high-risk factors include living with health care workers or visiting human hospitals or nursing homes, as therapy dogs often do.

    Hoet previously conducted research in Venezuela on treating staph mastitis, an infection in cow udders. When he came to Ohio State in 2005, he learned that more dogs, cats and horses were being brought to the clinic with MRSA. He began a study of how they acquired the infection, what forms it took and their resistance to treatment.

    At that time, about 5 percent of the dogs arriving at the university’s specialized clinic had or carried MRSA, and they were likely to have been referred by other veterinarians. Today, that figure has dropped to less than 0.9 percent, due to increased awareness of the bacterium among veterinarians.

    Unlike humans, most pets colonized with MRSA will not become infected unless they are immunocompromised — young, old, unhealthy or having cuts. The bacterium simply goes away after a few weeks or months. Some animals may be carriers without any MRSA symptoms. Visible symptoms might include crusts, scaling, papules, pustules, erythema, hair loss, inflammation in the ear or skin infections.

    Linda Nowakowski, of Carlisle, Ohio, was referred to Ohio State’s Veterinary Medical Center by her regular vet. Her 9-month-old gray tabby cat, Cloudy, had been scratching the top of his head, his ears and chin. The antibiotic prescribed had worked briefly, but the symptoms returned. She was sent to Dayton to see a veterinary dermatologist, who thought the problem was ear mites and prescribed the drug Revolution.

    “He only got worse,” Nowakowski said. “He scratched constantly and had open wounds on his head.”

    She brought Cloudy to Ohio State, and they saw Dr. Stephanie Abrams, a veterinary dermatologist resident working with Dr. Gwendolen Lorch. Abrams conducted a skin biopsy and prescribed clindamycin. Within a month, Cloudy was significantly better: He had some of his fur back, and the open wounds closed and scabbed over.  Â

    The source of the cat’s MRSA infection remains a mystery. None of the kittens in the litter was infected. Nowakowski had her own physician check to see that she was free of MRSA after returning from a surgery on her leg when the cat was only 6 weeks old. “He stayed with me the entire time when I was recovering,” she said. “He stayed in my bed and followed me whenever I got up.”

    Nowakowski can’t say enough to praise the staff at Ohio State’s Veterinary Medical Center. “They put us in an isolation room and wore protective uniforms — and they helped ‘my baby.’ Now, when we go for follow-up visits, the whole staff are eager to see Cloudy. They’ve been truly incredible!”

    With a new lease on life for owner and cat, Nowakowski may have to change Cloudy’s name to “Sunny.”