Veterinary Public Health student presents research on MRSA in vet hospital environment

Christina Jackson, a second-year student in the Veterinary Public Health master's program, presented research on the presence of the antibiotic-resistant Staph infection known as MRSA in veterinary teaching hospitals at the Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases in Chicago in December 2008.

Jackson worked on the project with Principal Investigator Armando Hoet, joint assistant professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine.

"There is little research out there on environmental MRSA in the veterinary hospital setting," Jackson said. "This is a zoonotic disease (which can be passed from animals to humans and vice versa). And that makes it very important to control."

Jackson set out to determine which contact surfaces, human and canine, in a veterinary teaching hospital have the greatest prevalence of MRSA. She collected samples every month for one year at a hospital that receives more than 16,000 dogs a year. She learned that 14 percent of the sampled surfaces tested positive for MRSA. The highest concentration was found on doors and other surfaces in which multiple humans and animals had contact.

"These results are of importance due to the possibility of nosocomial (hospital-acquired) canine infection within the hospital as well as zoonotic (animal-to-person) transmission to staff or even to the pet's owners," Jackson said. "By finding what surfaces are most contaminated, it will allow for future prevention."