It is fairly common among the swish-set in big cities to cuddle and kiss their pets, particularly dogs, even on the nose and lips, and let them lick their face and lips in return. This behaviour is more pronounced in the female of the human species. And the urge seems to become uncontrollable when there are spectators around.
Pretty young veterinarians also seem to have a fondness for this behaviour despite their medical education, much to the annoyance of the critters, who are not usually thrilled to be at a health facility to begin with, and the envy and frustration of their often male (and some female) owners.
New research suggests, however, that such practices are gross not only for reasons of envy or annoyance, but also for reasons of hygiene and good health.
A study led by researchers from the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and the Royal Veterinary College, England, has found that pets and owners share bacteria and other bugs with one another, The Telegraph newspaper of the UK reported last month.
The team examined stool samples from 114 healthy humans, 85 dogs and 18 cats, collected once a month for four months, to arrive at the worrying conclusion.
Genetic analysis was conducted to check for signs of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, or genes from such micro-organisms. Fifteen of the pets and 15 humans were found to be carrying what the team characterised as a bacterium of concern. Half of the infected pets and a third of the infected people had an antibiotic-resistant strain that was not affected by penicillin and other common treatments.
The findings were presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in the Portuguese capital.
With the growing incidence of ‘superbugs’, or pathogens that are impervious to common drugs, the scientists warn that such displays of affection run the collateral risk of spreading antibiotic resistance.
Dr Juliana Menezes from the University of Lisbon, lead author of the study, said antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to public health “because it can make conditions like pneumonia, sepsis, urinary tract and wound infections untreatable”.
A study published in Lancet earlier this year found that more than a million people died from superbugs in 2019. Obviously, these deaths had nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic, which only began towards the end of 2019 and hit the world in 2020.
Dr Menezes said previous studies have linked the close-contact factors between pets and their owners to the sharing of bacteria. “These risk factors include kissing, licking the owner’s face or eating from the owner’s plate,” she said.
While the level of sharing from the households the team studied was low, she cautioned that “healthy carriers can shed bacteria into their environment for months and be a source of infection for other more vulnerable people and animals such as the elderly and pregnant women”.
She said that to reduce the spread of these bacteria within the household, it would be necessary to reduce this close relationship between owners and their pets, and to have greater hygiene practices.
“Bearing in mind that the bacteria we studied are found colonising the gastrointestinal tract, the transmission occurs via the faecal-oral route, so good hygiene practices on the part of owners would help to reduce sharing, such as washing hands after collecting dog waste, or even after petting them,” she suggested.
So, the next time you get the urge to share food from your plate with your cat or exchange kisses with your dog, don’t. Look around for a human substitute instead. There’s usually one available. But make sure they are healthy, hygienic and vaccinated.
Sandy Pawpaw
Sandy Pawpaw is a fierce advocate of unleashing the animal in, and with, you.
