Findings on link between MRSA in humans and dogs

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140513092533.htm

Good read, if you're interested in this sort of thing.

Interesting!

It's kind of inevitable that there will be cross species infection. We've lived to close for to long for some bacteria not to have evolved to be compatible with both hosts.

Plus can I just ask... Were you very bored Eleanor?   So much reading. Thanks for sharing.

Very true. It only takes one mutation to catch on.

I was bored, yes! I do like to keep up to date with dog news though, so I check every couple of days and share things I find interesting.

Just an aside - about 7 or so years ago my son was in hospital (as he was very often in those days) and he had as normal procedure one of those devices put into a vein in the crook of his elbow (I forget what they're called) whereby a drip could be easily connected, or drugs etc easily administered. Over the next 2 and 3 days I could see that the site was becoming more and more inflamed and told the nurses each day, and finally on the 4th day the thing was removed. By this time he was diagnosed as suffering from MRSA and he subsequently spent a further 4 weeks in hospital, in isolation, receiving massive amounts of antibiotics.

They should have noticed that! These nurses are supposed to be trained professionals!

That's what infuriated me Eleanor. I pointed it out to the nurses every day, but nothing was done until his whole arm was swollen and red.

I have a high opinion of our local hospital in general and indeed they boasted on their website that in that month they "only" had two patients with MRSA, one of which was my son. I was there recently for my knee op and was pleased that I only got a post-op wound infection.

Our local general hospital boasts that they've never had a case of MRSA (not one that they'll admit to, anyway!) but I don't want to be the first! Trouble is, you never seem to know when it'll strike.  

If you'd noticed something was wrong, they definitely should have. I would have been furious!

Yes, I was very cross Eleanor.

I think tbh that most hospitals are doing their best to limit spread of infection.  I know ours is, although when I was there recently the taps in both toilets ceased to work, so the only option I had was to wash my hands at the nurses' handwashing station.  

The filthiest hospital I ever saw was the Chelsea and Westminster when my son had to go there when he put his arm through a window and severed all sorts of stuff (they specialise in hand and arm surgery and to be fair they did a good job on my son and he came away without any infections).  Not so the actress Leslie Ash who was there the same time and contracted not MRSA but that even worse bug beginning with C.  I noticed at the time that the wheels of my son's bed were absolutely thick with grime (I'm not a hygiene fetishist at all, but I couldn't help noticing - the wheels literally ran on a layer of muck).

Sorry - gone a bit off topic!

That's disgusting! You'd expect a hospital to at least have a good visible standard of hygiene!

I expect (hope) they have improved.

Hopefully! Although now, I think the hospital inspectors would shut them down if they had poor hygiene.

I would think that in Chelsea & Westminster's case after such a high profile infection (you should have seen the press coverage outside the hospital!) they've at least cleaned their wheels and washed the floor.

Makes you wonder, though, how healthy you'll be when you come out of hospital!

Makes me shudder!

I'll just say two more words - Noro Virus.

I can't tell you how many times I've caught this, just from visiting people in hospital.

I don't know if I've ever had it. I've had vomiting bugs during winter, but I couldn't say for sure if it was Norovirus.

tbh I think the clue comes with relation to hospitals. To name one example, my late stepfather was in hospital one winter, my mum visited him and the next day was prostrated with D&V. so she asked me to visit him in her stead, which I did. He had also suffered similarly and gave me his soiled pyjamas, which I immediately stuffed into a plastic bag. The following day I was also stricken. It happens that quickly, unlike gastric flu which normally takes 2 or 3 days to make itself known.

Sounds horrible!

Not the most fun in the world, certainly.

I can imagine! Sounds like it's highly contagious!

I'm a germophobe and I have to love you very, very, very, very much before I'll visit you in a hospital. I have to force myself to breathe as I stop.

That's understandable. If you have anxiety about germs, hospitals are bound to be quite scary places!