What are the clinical signs of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections?
An infection that does not respond appropriately to an antibiotic is suggestive of an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection. A fever of unknown origin may also be present.
How are antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections treated?
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections are treated based on the culture and sensitivity results as well as the location and severity of the infection. If the infection is life-threatening, alternative and potentially risky antibiotic treatments may be considered.
In some cases, supportive care and treating the underlying condition that triggered the infection will resolve the infection without the use of riskier antibiotics. When antibiotics are prescribed, they must be taken on time and to completion exactly as prescribed.
Probiotics (beneficial or “helpful” bacteria) are a supplement that may be recommended. Although some studies have shown promising results regarding the use of probiotics in treating and preventing antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, there is no conclusive evidence. However, because using probiotics poses no risk to the dog, they may be added to the treatment plan.
Hoang and other experts agree that the potential clearly exists for resistance elements to move back and forth between humans and pets. But they say the risk of an individual getting a MRSA infection from their dog, to use one example, is very limited. The reverse scenario is more likely, given that MRSA strains exist in the nostrils of roughly one in three people.
“These findings suggest that mcr-1–producing E. coli can colonize companion animals and be transferred between companion animals and humans. The findings also suggest that, in addition to food animals and humans, companion animals can serve as a reservoir of colistin-resistant E. coli,” the authors of the study wrote.
The issue is worth discussing as an increasing number of Americans share their homes with pets. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), somewhere between 37% and 47% of all US households own a pet. And for some pet owners, the relationship is a close one.
While the possibility of pets spreading drug-resistant bacteria to their owners may be limited, there is growing concern in the veterinary community about the rise of antibiotic resistance in companion animals, particularly drug-resistant skin infections, urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections. As in human medicine, this is limiting the treatments that can be used by vets, as more and more antibiotics become ineffective.
“If your dog has a MRSA infection, yes it might pose some risk to you, but you probably already infected it,” says Scott Weese, DVM, a veterinarian and microbiologist who studies bacterial infections in humans and animals at the University of Guelph in Ontario. Still, Weese adds, there is a slight concern that dogs and cats could shed MRSA in homes that havent been exposed to the pathogens.
3 Problems With Antibiotics For Dogs
With antibiotic resistance emerging as an urgent public health issue, much of the focus has been on the rise of drug-resistant bugs in humans and farm animals. But what about those animals that share our homes, our hearts, and sometimes even our beds?
That question has been raised in light of a recent study by researchers in China, who found that a pet shop worker, along with four dogs and two cats in the shop where he worked, were infected with a strain of Escherichia coli bacteria carrying the MCR-1 gene—a molecule that can confer resistance to the last-resort antibiotic colistin.
“These findings suggest that mcr-1–producing E. coli can colonize companion animals and be transferred between companion animals and humans. The findings also suggest that, in addition to food animals and humans, companion animals can serve as a reservoir of colistin-resistant E. coli,” the authors of the study wrote.
The study was one of several in recent years to examine whether humans and pets can share drug-resistant bacteria. In 2014, researchers in the United Kingdom analyzing strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in cats and dogs showed that humans and companion animals “readily exchange and share” isolates from the same strain, a finding that suggested pets and humans can pass MRSA “backwards and forwards,” as one of the authors told the BBC.
In a 2009 study, investigators swabbed household surfaces at 35 randomly selected homes and found MRSA in more than half of them. In looking for factors that might make a home more likely to harbor the bacteria, they discovered that the presence of MRSA was eight times more likely in homes with cats.