• Question: Since MRSA is communicable, can it be caught by pets like a dog for an example because they're given antibiotics too. Are they becoming resistant too?

    Asked by Teagx to Abid, Donna, Sanjib, Thomas, Avril on 15 Jun 2017.
    • Photo: Donna Johnson

      Donna Johnson answered on 15 Jun 2017:

      They can get it (from their owners usually) but they can also get a different Staphylococcus infection and they can also be resistant to antibiotics.

    • Photo: Avril Tucker

      Avril Tucker answered on 15 Jun 2017:

      MRSA means methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Staph aureus lives on all of our skin without a problem. It’s when a wound gets infected that it starts to turn nasty. The MR but means it’s developed a resistance to methicillin related antibiotics which we would normally use for treating such an infection, so we need to use other drugs to kill it. I don’t really know much about vet medicine but I suppose, in theory, dogs can get that type of infection too. And yes, animals can have resistant bacteria, just like us.

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