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SAN FRANCISCO -- A novel intervention where pet therapy dogs were cleaned with antiseptic shampoo and wipes prior to their interaction with pediatric cancer patients reduced risk of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization in these patients, a researcher said here.

While the risk for MRSA colonization did not completely diminish, it was much lower when the dogs were decolonized compared to when they were not decolonized, reported Kathryn Dalton, VMD, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

The results were presented at a press conference at IDWeek, with joint sponsorship by the (IDSA), the (PIDS), the (SHEA), and the (HIVMA).

Dalton said that this intervention started at the request of practicing clinicians, who were concerned about the risk that therapy dogs posed for their patients.

"We wanted to explore the risk for a therapy dog to serve as a vector for the spread of hospital-associated pathogens, such as MRSA, to patients within a pediatric oncology clinic," she said at the press conference. "Ours is the first study to look at this novel intervention."

Chris Nyquist, MD, of Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora, who moderated the session but was not involved with the research, said that pet therapy has been limited in oncology patients because of concerns about infection transmission.

"This study brings a method of bringing pet therapy dogs to areas where they haven't been able to go in the hospital," she told 番茄社区app. "We haven't had concerns about the dogs, but we've limited where they've gone and this study provides us a wonderful opportunity to expand that program."

The study evaluated 45 children and 4 therapy dogs over 13 visits. For the seven control visits, therapy dog handlers performed "normal pre-visit practices;" the decolonization protocol was implemented for six intervention visits. The protocol consisted of a chlorhexidine-based shampoo prior to the visit, and chlorhexidine wipes on the fur during the visit, the authors said.

They found that when the dogs were not decolonized, four patients and three dogs became MRSA carriers after a visit, while one patient and two dogs became colonized after a visit when the dogs were decolonized.

When stratified by intervention group, the "MRSA conversion odds ratio of close interaction" was lower when the dogs had been decolonized (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.1-10.8) than when the dogs were not decolonized (OR 9.72, 95% CI 0.9-99), albeit with extremely wide confidence intervals in both cases.

Co-author Meghan Davis, PhD, also of Johns Hopkins University, said that genetic studies in companion animals have shown that they tend to carry strains distributed in humans or pick up strains from their owners or people they come in contact with. But she added that the results of this study are only applicable to pet therapy animals in this particular population and "we don't recommend you run out and treat every dog or cat."

Nyquist characterized the intervention as "a way to be as safe as possible in a very vulnerable population." "This innovation of cleaning the dogs so they don't become a vector for transmission is really important. For humans, it's washing your hands. This is a way of washing the dogs," she added.

In addition, the authors found that the patients had decreased blood pressure, heart rate, and reports of improved mental health scores after any visit with the dogs.

Dalton added that because of this pilot study, her team has received additional funding to do a larger study looking at this intervention in multiple hospitals.

"If we can safely study if this intervention is able to be used in other settings, we can increase safety to patients so the intervention can be used for patient benefit," she said.

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