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A study presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) reveals evidence of transmission of multidrug-resistant bacteria between pet cats and dogs and their owners in the UK and Portugal. The researchers found similar antibiotic-resistant bacteria in six pets in Portugal and one in the UK and their respective owners. This underscores the importance of including pet-owning households in efforts to reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance, as antibiotic resistance poses a significant public health threat worldwide. To minimize the spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria, pet owners should practice good hygiene, including washing their hands after handling their pets and waste.
People in the UK and Portugal carry the same multidrug-resistant bacteria as their pets; call for dogs and cats to be included in antibiotic resistance assessments.
Researchers have found evidence of transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria between pets and their owners in the UK and Portugal, highlighting the need to include households with pets in resistance reduction programs to antimicrobials.
Evidence that multidrug-resistant bacteria are transmitted between pet cats and dogs and their owners will be presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (April 15-18).
According to a Portuguese study, six pets in Portugal and one in the UK carried antibiotic-resistant bacteria similar to those found in their owners.
The finding underscores the importance of including pet-owning households in programs to reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Antibiotic resistance is reaching dangerously high levels around the world. Drug-resistant infections kill around 700,000 people a year worldwide and, with a figure expected to rise to 10 million by 2050 if no action is taken, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies resistance antibiotics as one of the greatest public health threats facing humanity.
“Owners can reduce the spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria by practicing good hygiene, including washing their hands after picking up their dog’s or cat’s feces and even after petting them.” — Ms Menezes
Dogs, cats and other pets are known to contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistant pathogens that can cause human disease. Juliana Menezes and her colleagues at the Antibiotic Resistance Laboratory of the Interdisciplinary Animal Health Research Center of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, wanted to know if pets treated with antibiotics for infections shared these pathogens with their owners.
The researchers tested fecal samples from dogs and cats and their owners for Enterobacteriaceae (a large family of bacteria that includes E.coli And Klebsiella pneumoniae) resistant to common antibiotics.
They focused on bacteria resistant to third-generation cephalosporins (used to treat a wide range of conditions including meningitis, pneumonia and sepsis, they are ranked among the most critical antibiotics for human medicine by the World Health Organization) and carbapenems (part of the last line of defense when other antibiotics have failed). The prospective longitudinal study involved five cats, 38 dogs and 78 humans from 43 households in Portugal and seven dogs and eight humans from seven households in the UK.
In Portugal, a dog (1/43 pets, 2.3%) was colonized by a multidrug-resistant strain producing OXA-181 Escherichia coli. OXA-181 is an enzyme that confers resistance to carbapenems.
Three cats and 21 dogs (24/43 pets, 55.8%) and 28 owners (28/78, 35.9%) harbored ESBL/Amp-C-producing Enterobacteriaceae. These are resistant to third generation cephalosporins.
In eight households, two houses with cats and six with dogs, both the pet and the owner carried ESBL/AmpC-producing bacteria. In six of these houses, the[{” attribute=””>DNA of the bacteria isolated from the pets (one cat and five dogs) and their owners was similar, meaning these bacteria were probably passed between the animals and humans. It is not known whether they were transferred from pet to human or vice versa.
In the UK, one dog (1/7,14.3%) was colonized by multidrug-resistant E. coli producing NDM-5 and CTX-M-15 beta-lactamases. These E. coli are resistant to third-generation cephalosporins, carbapenems and several other families of antibiotics.
ESBL/AmpC-producing Enterobacterales were isolated from five dogs (5/7, 71.4%) and three owners (3/8, 37.5%).
In two households with dogs, both pet and owner were carrying ESBL/AmpC-producing bacteria. In one of these homes, the DNA of the bacteria isolated from the dog and owner was similar, suggesting the bacteria probably passed from one to the other. The direction of transfer is unclear.
All of the dogs and cats were successfully treated for their skin, soft tissue, and urinary tract infections.
The owners did not have infections and so did not need treatment.
Ms. Menezes, a PhD student, says: “In this study, we provide evidence that bacteria resistant to a third generation cephalosporins, critically important antibiotics, are being passed from pets to their owners.
“Dogs and cats may aid the spread and persistence of such bacteria in the community and it is vitally important that they are included in assessments of antimicrobial resistance.
“Owners can reduce the spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria by practicing good hygiene, including washing their hands after collecting their dog or cat’s waste and even after petting them.”
This article is based on oral presentation 208 at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) annual meeting. The material has been peer-reviewed by the congress selection committee.
The work was supported by JPIAMR/0002/2016 Project—PET-Risk Consortium and by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia IP (UIDB/00276/2020); JM and JMS were supported by a PhD fellowship (2020.07562.BD; 2020.06540.BD, respectively).