Equine Veterinarians Most Likely to Contract MRSA

Equine veterinarians are 23 times more likely to contract antibiotic-resistant bacteria than horse owners.
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In an industry that primarily focuses on sick and injured horses, some people might not realize how easy it is for equine veterinarians to become sick or injured themselves as a result of their work. Case in point: The results from a recent Australian study indicate that equine veterinarians in that country are up to 23 times more likely to contract antibiotic-resistant bacteria than the general public, including horse owners.

A research team from the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (DPI) obtained nasal swabs from more than 750 veterinarians while attending industry conferences. They then sent the swabs to a laboratory to test for the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

"Vets who did not do any clinical work (likely have) about the same rate of MRSA colonization as the general community," said David Jordan, BVSc, MVS, PhD, principal research scientist at the DPI, adding that these veterinarians were used as controls and had a prevalence of about 0.9%.

They found that veterinarians that worked mostly with horses were more likely to be colonized (or a carrier of the bacteria) with the MRSA bacteria compared with other veterinarians

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