BERNE, 20 July (KUNA) -- The well-known in veterinary medicine bacterium Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is resistant to almost all antibiotics, It has now been demonstrated in humans and can cause infections in surgical wounds.
A research of the University of Berne warns against the use of effective antibiotics in humans also for animals.
The bacterium Staphylococcus pseudintermedius comes in natural ways before in dogs. It may cause skin infections in dogs and cats that occur as infections of surgical wounds.
It has been shown that people with a close contact with these animals can house the bacteria, usually without developing an infection as such bacteria are so-called "healthy carrier".
But Staphylococcus pseudintermedius may cause in certain cases dangerous problems in humans, for example the wound infections after an operation.
In such a case this bacterium are considered as agents of transmissible between animal and human infectious disease (zoonosis).
A zoonosis is any infectious disease that can be transmitted from animals, both wild and domestic to humans and many serious diseases fall under this category.
The first case of human infection with a multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus was reported by a research team led by Prof. Dr. Vincent Perreten at the Institute of Bacteriology, University of Bern.
The patient was treated successfully with antibiotics approved only for human medicine but by using the so called Drugs of last resort, which are drugs only used when all other options are exhausted. Many of the best known are antibiotics, antiviral, or chemotherapy agents.
They are usually withheld from administration to prevent the development of resistance or due to unpleasant side effects.
The Swiss researchers found out that this new Staphylococcus pseudintermedius occurred in the last few years in dogs and cats.
According the resent research the reserve antibiotics should be in accordance with experts in human medicine used only when other drugs fail.
These vital ingredients for man can be used by veterinary surgeons, but there are no studies about the pharmacological effects in animals.
The use of reserve antibiotics in animals' poses made for people, therefore the risk that new strains develop resistance to these antibiotics. As a result of infection with such a multi-resistant strain it will be very difficult to treat or not at all because there are hardly any or no effective antimicrobial agents more.
Multi-resistant bacteria from the veterinary medicine lost a serious infection in humans. The case described shows an impression the serious consequences of the use of antibiotics. Prof. Perreten thus warns, "It is important not to use reserve antibiotics for animals. Otherwise, the medicines will not have any more funds against the bacterium in the hand." - Kuna