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Dogs

Question
Dear expert team,
a CF patient loves to go walking in the park with her dog. The question came up, if Pseudomonas can be transmitted from the dog's hair when the dog is running through mud an puddles....
Many thanks, for your help
Answer
Dear questioner,
a recently published study from Germany investigated if keeping of animals resp. regluar contact to animals is an increased risk for CF patients (Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2016; 27:597-603). There it could be shown, that CF patients do as often keep animals as the rest of the population. Furthermore, CF patients with animals (n=56) did not have worse lung function values, did not have lower weight or more stays in hospital compared to CF patients without animal (n=58). However, in the group of patients with animal (mostly because of the usage of hay and straw) the risk to develop an allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis was increased. In the study , 70 samples of 6 dogs have been investigated for bacteria and fungi. Bacteria and fungi could be found, however no Pseudomonas.
From another CF center a case report has recently been published, where a child with CF and the dog, that lived in the family had both Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Klin Padiatr. 2017; 229:245-246). The dog showed increased cough and secretions and the isolated stem showed the same resistance pattern as that of the child.
Concrete to your question:
There are no special recommendations for behaviour with animals in case of CF. In general, a transmission of germs via direct contact is possible. For humid germs like P.a. do not multiply in the hair of the animal, the dog should be dried with a towel or hair dryer after running through paddels or mud. After that and also after caressing or feeding, good handwashing is important. By this, the risk of transmission is minimized.
All the best for you and your dog.
Best regards,
Jörg Steinmann
11.05.2018