Multiple Drug Resistant Staph Infections

Multiple Drug Resistant Staph Infections

(This is why we will not sell antibiotics over the counter or refill these prescriptions without first seeing your pet. This is also why you need to finish all the medications given)

The prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcal spp infections in animals is increasing, and this is no longer an “uncommon” finding in clinical practice. The factors …that led to the increase in prevalence of methicillin resistance are not known, but there is evidence that one cause is the increased use of antibiotics in the last decade.5 Methicillin-resistant S pseudintermedius (MRSP) can be found in or on clinically healthy dogs and cats. Reported prevalence of colonization ranged from 1.5% to 17% in healthy dogs and in healthy cats was 1.2%.6 Typically, pets acquire MRSP via animal-to-animal infection; healthy colonized pets are the most likely source. If an MRSA is isolated as the primary pathogen from a pet, the most likely source of exposure is from a human. Studies have shown that fewer than 4% of healthy dogs or cats are colonized with MRSA. Risk factors for MRSA in pets include surgery, hospitalization, previous antibiotic use, or exposure to humans with MRSA. Therapy pets in hospitals are also at increased risk.

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