Cross-infection between animals and man: Possible feline transmission of Staphylococcus aureus infection in humans?

Nosocomial Infections and their Surveillance in Veterinary Hospitals

“…As far as public health is concerned many years ago likelihood of companion animals to act as the source for the zoonotic infections of Staphylococci is suggested (Mann, 1959) and many reports have offered the suggestion that animals may act as reservoirs of MRSA infections to human. In one case a cat was involved as a MRSA source for nurses in geriatric care unit (Scott et al, 1988). In another case of two nurses, a dog was considered as a reservoir for the treatment failure for MRSA and reinfection (Cefai et al, 1994).…”

“…It is known that S.aureus is one of the chief cause for mastitis and the extensive use of intramammary antibiotics in cattle, so it is not unanticipated that, MRSA was isolated from milk of a mastitic animal, which is first among animals (Devriese et al, 1972). After this MRSA has been isolated from various species like dogs (Pak et al, 1999), cats (Scott et al, 1988), sheep (Goni et al, 2004), horses (Seguin et al, 1999), pigs (Voss et al, 2005) and chickens (Lee, 2003). Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important concern nowadays in pet animals for being a significant cause in nosocomial infections (Weese, 2008b; and also a threat of zoonoses to veterinary health care personnel (Loeffler et al, 2010;Burstiner et al, 2010) and horses may act as a reservoir of MRSA and serve as a source of infection to humans (Weese et al, 2005a (Enright et al, 2000), spa typing (Moodley et al, 2006).…”

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Food- Producing and Companion Animals and Food Products

“…The presence of host-adaptive, virulence, and toxin genes makes the companion animal MRSA isolates prime candidates for zoonotic transfer. The irst outbreak of human MRSA associated with cats was reported in a rehabilitation geriatric ward in the UK in 1988 [209] but others have since been reported in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, South America, and the Netherlands [193,[210][211][212]. Human-associated MRSA, such as EMRSA-15 and CMRSA-2, show a close relationship with pet-associated MRSA [211][212][213][214].…”

Reflection paper on MRSA in food-producing and companion animals: epidemiology and control options for human and animal health

“…Case reports of successful eradication therapy in one MRSA colonized dog with a combination of ciprofloxacin and rifampin and another with rifampin and doxycycline have been described [75,76,94]. Decolonization with antimicrobials may involve a risk of selection of MRSA strains resistant to the agent applied.…”

“…In 1988 Scott et al [75] reported the first companion animal-related outbreak of MRSA in a rehabilitation geriatric ward where the ward cat was colonized and was implicated as reservoir for re-infection. Infection control measures and removal of the cat led to rapid resolution of the outbreak.…”