Now Your Pets Might Infect You With Superbugs

Pets might be a source of drug-resistant superbugs, Chinese researchers reported. They found a pet shop worker infected with a much-feared antibiotic resistant strain of E. coli may have been infected by dogs at his store that carried the same strain.  The 50-year-old man with a kidney inflammation had an infection with E. coli bacteria carrying the dreaded mcr-s gene — a little cassette of DNA that provides resistance to an important group of antibiotics, which other bacteria can pass around like a tray of snacks.  Tests on 39 dogs and 14 cats in the pet shop where the man worked turned up mcr-1 in four dogs and two cats, they reported in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Plus the bacteria infecting the animals were resistant to a range of other drugs, too.  Tests on 39 dogs and 14 cats in the pet shop where the man worked turned up mcr-1 in four dogs and two cats. Plus the bacteria infecting the animals were resistant to a range of other drugs, too.