I actually like having pets and we have a house cat. Unfortunately, here I am once again blogging against them. I previously blogged about cat dander causing asthma attacks. However, over the years of providing foster care, I have found that traumatized children usually bond with animals rather quickly. I have seen children show affection to family pets who are not able to show affection to another person. Now in the news, a house cat was discovered to be the cause of a family’s chronic battle with the drug-resistant staph infection, MRSA. The case was published in the March 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine about a German family. Apparently, the family doctor was a bit puzzled when a woman and her family kept requiring treatment for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The doctor would treat the infection, and then family members would come back and test positive again. It was a woman, her husband and two children who kept getting MRSA.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), MRSA is spread through skin-to-skin contact with an infected person. Its transmission has also been associated with contaminated surfaces, crowded living conditions, and poor hygiene. About 12 percent of MRSA cases are now acquired through the community. The infections may look like a boil or an inflamed pimple, and may be red, swollen, and draining pus.

The German woman kept getting multiple deep abscesses although she was otherwise healthy. Her abscesses as well as nasal swabs kept testing positive for MRSA. Her family also tested positive several times. In an attempt to decolonize, the family, nasal ointments and antiseptic washes were prescribed. Finally, doctors tested the family cats, and found one that tested positive, although it had no symptoms.

Researchers believe that the woman initially transmitted the bacteria to the cat, and then kept getting it back. Once the cat was decolonized, and everyone was treated with antibiotics, everyone finally tested negative for MRSA.

Try to keep those kiddos from kissing the cats.

Photo Credit: The official Web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is a public domain Web site, which means you may link to CDC.gov at no cost and without specific permission.