Vets urged to guard against super-bug
Vets should adopt hospital-style precautions to guard against passing the deadly MRSA super-bug to animals, it was claimed today.
With up to 20 animals in the United Kingdom carrying the killer bug each year, Fianna Fáil TD Johnny Brady called for vets to wear surgical scrub suits to avoid transmitting the disease.
“The main concern is to ensure we have as few cases as possible by encouraging veterinary surgeons to adopt best practice during operating procedures,” he said.
“There is a need for vets to consider using sterile gloves, scrub suits and masks during operations to protect the animal.”
The British Veterinary Association has warned that they have great concerns over MRSA among vets in the UK.
Mr Brady, chair of the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee called on all relevant bodies and the Department of Agriculture to look into adopting strict precautionary measures.
The Fianna Fail TD said: “This is a worrying development. There is wide awareness in the industry of the problems MRSA can cause and the steps needed to prevent infections.
“Unless important changes take place in the way veterinary practices perform surgery and take better care of post-operative infections the levels of MRSA in animals will rise.”
MRSA infections can be fatal in babies, small children, the old and infirm with the bug blamed for around 1,000 deaths in the United Kingdom each year.
Mr Brady said he would be contacting veterinary bodies and the Department of Agriculture for an urgent examination of proposals and their implementation.
