Wikimedia, MasterukWild animals harbor and transmit the most infamous and life-threatening drug-resistant germ, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to a study published this month (October 1) in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases, which identified the deadly superbug in two wild rabbits and a shorebird.
“[MRSA] can move all over,” epidemiologist and senior author of the study Tara Smith of Iowa told KCRG, a local ABC affiliate in Iowa. “It extends beyond your typical human environment: hospitals, gyms, homes. It can also be in the wild environment,” she added, and “animals can be reservoirs and transmit it to people.”
In the study, researchers surveyed 114 animals from the Wildlife Care Clinic at Iowa State University in Ames, and found that seven animals carried non-drug resistant S. aureus, including owls, a beaver, a heron, and a squirrel. In addition, three animals tested positive for MRSA. Researchers had previously isolated MRSA from wild chimpanzees and dolphins, in addition to domesticated pets and livestock.
S. aureus is commonly found on human skin and ...
