Transfer of drug-resistant microbes between pets and humans ‘minimal’

Pets are not a major source of transmission of drug-resistant microbes to the owners, according to a study prepared for a cancelled European conference.

Research, which was due to be presented at this month’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), identified genetically identical multidrug-resistant bacteria in humans and their pets – but confirmed that it was found only a small number of cases.

The study, led by Carolin Hackmann, Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, Charité – University Hospital Berlin, Germany, and colleagues, focused on the most common multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in pet owners: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), 3rd generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales (3GCRE) and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE).

Pet owners were asked questions about well-known risk factors and their contact to dogs and cats, including information about the number of pets in the household, the closeness of contact and diseases as well as medical treatment of the pets.

The researchers also collected nasal and rectal swabs of the participants in the hospital and their pets to test them for MDROs.

Among the first 1,500 participants, 495 participants (33%) tested positive for MDROs. Of these, 296 (20%) owned between one and five pets and 38% of these owners (112) tested positive for MDROs.

There was no significant difference in the proportion of pet owners between cases and controls. Further analysis of factors concerning the health status of pets and closeness of contact to pets also showed no significant differences between cases and controls.

A second study into the transfer of bacteria between dogs and humans, which was also due to be presented to ECCMID, reveals raw dog foods contain high levels of multidrug-resistant bacteria, including those resistant to last-line antibiotics.

Researchers say it means there is the potential for transfer of such bacteria between dogs and humans is an international public health risk.

The authors analysed enterococci obtained from processed – both dry and wet type – and non-processed (raw-frozen) foods of the main brands commercialised in Portugal, totalling 46 samples: 22 wet, 15 dry, 9 raw-frozen from 24 international brands.

Samples were cultured and then tested with a range of antibiotics. Enterococci (n=163) were identified in 19 of the 46 (41%) of the samples; eight of the 15 (53%) dry foods; two of the 22 (9%) of the wet samples; and all nine of the raw-frozen samples, and identified as the Enterococcus species E. faecium (91 isolates), E. faecalis (59 isolates) or other species (13 isolates).

They found that across the nine raw-frozen meat samples, there were 30 E. faecium and 30 E. faecalis recovered. All nine carried multidrug-resistant (MDR) enterococci, including those resistant to a wide range of antibiotics, while only one MDR- E. faecium (resistant to erythromycin/tetracycline/gentamicin) was detected in one of the wet food samples and none in the dry food samples.

Resistance was found to ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, tetracycline, streptomycin and chloramphenicol in all nine raw-type samples; seven of nine contained enterococci resistant to the last line antibiotic linezolid (78%), and six of nine contained enterococci resistant to gentamicin or quinupristin-dalfopristin. Resistance to clinically-relevant antibiotics such as linezolid, ampicillin or ciprofloxacin was only detected in raw-frozen samples.

For the full abstract on the MDRO study, see: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mmQiVFsXF09Sznw2JomcJ8zU_uFuj1DE/view

For the full abstract on the dog food study, see: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S_3MmNDkU5kPV0ANWp9LIOKpNaZUocGz/view

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