Hospital superbug found in animals
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Your support makes all the difference.The hospital superbug MRSA has been identified in a dozen animals in Britain. The deadly bacteria was found over the past year in cats, dogs and a rabbit after testing by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency.
The results were confirmed by the Government's Health Protection Agency in London, which claimed last night that the development was not a cause for alarm amid speculation that the findings might indicate the superbug's spread will be harder to contain.
MRSA, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, is so named because it is a form of the S aureus bug that is resistant to the antibiotic normally used to treat it, methicillin. The superbug kills about 5,000 patients a year.
An agency spokeswoman said: "It's an interesting finding but [we already know] that 35 to 40 per cent of people carry staph aureus on their skin quite harmlessly. We need to prevent that getting under the skin and into wounds."
Another spokeswoman for the agency, Angela Kearns, told The Observer: "We have observed MRSA in some domestic animals. We confirmed this in our laboratories. The cases came from across Britain so we know it's not one particular cluster.
The British Veterinary Association called for research into the disease in animals and said owners should "take a sensible approach, wash their hands regularly and not panic".
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