MRSA infection in dogs

Most people have at least a passing familiarity with the term MRSA, which is an acronym for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, and which is something that has made headlines on several occasions within the last few years due to its association with hospitals.

MRSA is a highly virile bacterial strain that is very resistant to antibiotics, which means that the bacteria spreads quickly and easily within certain environments, and is then very hard to treat and eradicate if it causes problems. Tabloid newspapers have made much of the rare serious presentations of MRSA infections in people, with screaming headlines offering images of “the flesh eating bug” and other such sensationalist statements, which serve only to frighten people over something that is generally, not a huge threat to health!

However, MRSA can pose a significant threat to the general healthcare environment of hospitals and similar operations such as nursing homes throughout the UK, as once the bacteria gets a hold within a certain environment, it is very quickly spread, and as mentioned, hard to deal with if it leads to illness.

Added to this, because many people who enter hospitals are of course already sick, and so, may have a weakened immune system, such a virile and easily spread bacteria is more likely to lead to infection in such people, and so, poses a health risk to people who are already ill.

So, what has all of this got to do with dogs? Well, MRSA is a bacteria that can be carried by and affect dogs as well as humans, and it is also a zoonotic bacteria, which means that it can cross the species divide and pass back and forth between humans and dogs.

In this article, we will look at MRSA in dogs in more detail, what it means for dogs that are carriers of the bacteria, and how much of a problem it can pose. Read on to learn more.

More about MRSA

MRSA is a specific strain of the staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which is resistant to methicillin, a penicillin-based antibiotic. Staphylococcus aureus does not generally pose a significant risk to health, and the vast majority of the human population some dogs too already carry a small amount of the bacteria around on their skin and/or inside of the lining of the nose, with no ill effects whatsoever.

However, if the bacteria enters the bloodstream, as can happen if a carrier of the bacteria acquires a small cut or graze, it can lead to an inflammation and infection of soft tissue, such as the tendons, ligaments, skin and fat. The most common and effective ways of treating such infections usually involve the use of penicillin-based antibiotics, such as the aforementioned methicillin.

However, MRSA is, as the name implies, highly resistant to treatment with this medication, which can make it very challenging to eradicate, and which is why it can pose such a risk to the health of both dogs and people.

How do dogs become carriers?

While many dogs carry the MRSA bacteria naturally for a short while with no ill effects, it is much more common within the human population, and as such, the most common route of transmission to dogs is via contact with people who are already carriers!

MRSA only rarely causes problems for dogs that carry it, and their natural immune systems are more able to fight it off than those of people, and so dogs that carry MRSA usually manage to eradicate it from their systems naturally within a couple of months. However, while they are carrying MRSA, they can pass it on to other members of both the canine and the human population very easily.

Will MRSA make my dog ill?

As mentioned, MRSA is unlikely to pose a problem to your dog’s health, as they are not as sensitive to it as people are, and usually clear the bacteria naturally without you ever even becoming aware that they were carrying it. However, if your dog is very young, very old, or otherwise might not have the full protection of a robust immune system, they will be at slightly higher risk of becoming ill due to the bacteria.

Unfortunately, this means that veterinary hospitals and inpatient care for dogs runs some of the same risks that it does for humans. In practice, this means that in rare cases, a dog may enter the clinic with an unrelated illness or injury, and due to a combination of factors that might include things such as a wound site due to an operation or injury, a lowered immune threshold due to the dog already being ill, and the opportunistic nature of such a widely-spread bacteria.

This then in turn can compromise the treatment and recovery for the original condition, as well as proving hard to eradicate the MRSA bacterial infection itself.

However, because veterinary clinics are of course aware of the risks and exercise very vigilant hygiene protocols specifically to limit the chances of the spread of illness, this is relatively rare.

Added to this, it is not as challenging to eradicate MRSA from dogs as it is from people, as dogs are naturally hardier and more resistant to it than we are. After infection has been confirmed with a bacterial culture, your vet will have various different options on how to proceed in terms of antibiotics that may fight the condition, and as mentioned, dogs tend to have less of a problem dealing with this specific type of infection than people do.

When MRSA infects a wound, such as that caused by an injury or surgical procedure, many vets actually treat the localised area with live Manuka honey, a traditional remedy that up until around five or six years ago was very uncommon and viewed with some suspicion by veterinary professionals, but which has since proven its worth time and again when it comes to tackling antibiotic resistant soft tissue infections!