1. Occurrence of Pasteurella multocida in Dogs Being Trained for Animal-Assisted Therapy
- Author
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Lucia Francesca Menna, Alessandro Fioretti, Antonio Santaniello, Mario Sansone, Susanne Garzillo, Alessia Amato, Santaniello, Antonio, Garzillo, Susanne, Amato, Alessia, Sansone, Mario, Fioretti, Alessandro, and Menna, Lucia Francesca
- Subjects
Male ,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Pasteurella Infections ,Psychological intervention ,lcsh:Medicine ,Logistic regression ,patients ,0302 clinical medicine ,Animal Assisted Therapy ,Zoonoses ,Epidemiology ,animal-assisted interventions ,risk factors ,co-therapist dog ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Pasteurella multocida ,Child ,0303 health sciences ,biology ,Transmission (medicine) ,Zoonosis ,respiratory system ,Breed ,risk factor ,Female ,patient ,contact ,medicine.medical_specialty ,animal-assisted intervention ,Animal-assisted therapy ,zoonosi ,Risk Assessment ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,Dogs ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,otorhinolaryngologic diseases ,Animals ,Humans ,Aged ,Mouth ,030306 microbiology ,business.industry ,lcsh:R ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,zoonosis ,medicine.disease ,biology.organism_classification ,Service Animals ,business ,co-therapist dogs - Abstract
Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is a non-pharmacological therapy aimed at people with physical and/or mental disabilities. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out interventions that guarantee its benefits for patients while also avoiding the risk of zoonoses due to contact with the animals or their mucous membranes. The present study aimed to detect the occurrence of Pasteurella multocida in the oral cavity of dogs attending a &ldquo, dog educational centre&rdquo, and training for AAT interventions. In addition, some of the potential predictable factors of infection (i.e., age, sex, breed, and living conditions) were analyzed. In total, 25/200 dogs examined (12.5%, 95% confidence interval = 8.4&ndash, 18.1%) were positive for P. multocida, as confirmed by PCR. Sex, breed, and living conditions were risk factors associated with P. multocida as revealed by the logistic regression analysis. Specifically, cross-bred female dogs living prevalently outdoors were significantly associated with the presence of P. multocida (p <, 0.05). This study represents the first epidemiological survey of the prevalence of P. multocida in the oral cavity of dogs involved subsequently in AAT interventions, highlighting the potential risk of P. multocida infection in patients, often belonging to risk categories (e.g., children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals). Therefore, healthcare guidelines could be suggested to integrate the current literature related to the health check of dogs involved in AAT. In this way, it could be ensured that, even with bodily contact during AAT, the risk of pathogen transmission by the co-therapist dog can be avoided.
- Published
- 2020