Monday, May 11, 2009

Dog day

You wouldn't know it from my rant against The Repellent Gus, but I love therapy dogs. (It's the people who come along I'm skeptical of...) So I was disappointed to read of a study that indicates that they can become agents of death, spreading MRSA and nasty vancomycin-resistant fecal bacteria beyond the hospital doors. Possible remedy: Don't kiss the dog and do the Purell before and after.

Here's the NYT Well blog:

Canadian researchers studied 26 therapy dogs who visited patients in hospitals or long-term care facilities. Before and after each visit, a dog’s forepaws and the hands of its handler were tested for three bacteria that commonly cause hospital infections — Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci and Clostridium difficile. To detect whether a dog was carrying germs on its fur, the researcher also sanitized her hands, petted the dog and had her hands tested for the pathogens.

None of the dog paws, handlers or the researcher tested positive for the bacteria before the hospital visits. But after the hospital visits, two of the dogs were contaminated. One dog, a greyhound, had C. difficile on its paws. Another dog, a pug, appeared to pick up MRSA on its fur. (MRSA was found on the hands of the investigator after she petted the dog upon its return.)

So how did the dogs end up as carriers of the risky germs? The dog with C. difficile had shaken paws with several patients. The pug with MRSA on its fur had spent time in patients’ beds and was kissed repeatedly by two patients.

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