SUPERBUG PASSED FROM DOGS TO HUMANS COULD BECOME `NIGHTMARE SCENARIO'

A potentially untreatable superbug is being harboured by dogs and passed on to owners, new research reveals.

Scientists are warning of a “nightmare scenario” after discovering transmission of a gene known to prompt resistance to a powerful antibiotic used by doctors as a last resort to save lives.

Sharing beds with dogs is just one of the ways they believe the mcr-1 gene is being passed on. It is harboured in the gut and transported via microscopic fecal particles, also making baskets an area of risk.

First reported in China in 2015, the mcr-1 gene is resistant to colistin, an antibiotic used to defeat bacterial infections that cannot be managed by any other drugs.

For years experts have warned that overuse of colistin, particularly on meat-producing animals, risks the rise of mutant genes that could render the drug useless in humans.

It is part of a growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance that is already estimated to kill 700,000 people a year globally and which is forecast to kill 10 million a year by 2050 if left unchecked.

Although the gene is believed to be carried by multiple species, scientists are particularly worried about its presence in domestic dogs because of their proximity to humans.

A team at the University of Lisbon took fecal samples from 126 healthy people living with 102 cats and dogs in 80 households across two years up to February 2020.

Eight of the dogs and four humans were found to have bacteria including mcr-1. In two of the households where dogs had tissue infections, the mcr-1 gene was found in both the dog and owner. Analysis suggests the gene was passed from dog to owner, but it is possible to transmit from human to animal.

Dr. Juliana Menezes, who led the research, said: “If bacteria resistant to all drugs acquire this resistance gene, they would become untreatable, and that's a scenario we must avoid at all costs.

“We know that the overuse of antibiotics drives resistance and it is vital that they are used responsibly, not just in medicine but also in veterinary medicine and in farming.”

Presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases conference over the weekend, the study is one of the first reports of mcr-1 found in a human.

A separate study revealed the extent to which raw dog food is a major source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Researchers at the University of Porto analyzed a range of dog food, finding that 54 per cent contained the bacteria Enterococci, of which 40 per cent were resistant to a range of strong antibiotics.