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Dog therapy can ease anxiety for kids with cancer but they may carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can put the children at risk for serious infections. According to researcher cleaning the dogs with antibacterial shampoo and wipes reduces that risk.
The new study included therapy dogs that visit kids receiving outpatient cancer treatment at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Children’s Hospital in Baltimore. The dogs do several one-on-one and group visits each day, going to different departments or other hospitals. Children were excited to see dogs in the hospital, and they enjoy petting, hugging, kissing and playing with them. The visits are helpful in easing their anxiety and stress.
But because they go from session to session, the dogs can pick up and spread MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. MRSA can cause staph infection that is resistant to common antibiotics, the risk is higher for cancer patients. Shampooing the dogs with the antibiotic chlorhexidine before their first visit of the day and using chlorhexidine wipes every five to 10 minutes during visits reduced the risk that the dogs would pick up and spread MRSA to the patients.
The study included 45 cancer patients, aged 2 to 20, and four therapy dogs. After seven sessions in which the dogs were not treated with chlorhexidine, four patients (15 percent) became MRSA carriers, as did three dogs (43 percent). In six sessions in which chlorhexidine was used on the dogs, one patient (4.5 percent) became a MRSA carrier, as did two dogs (33 percent).
When the dogs weren’t treated with the antibiotic, patients who had close interactions with them-petting, hugging, brushing their fur and spending more time were six times more likely to become MRSA carriers than those who didn’t