re: Veterinarians...can dogs carry strep?

The Washington Post medical mystery column recently featured a family that had 7 rounds of strep in 7 months. They would take antibiotics, get well, then it would come back.

The dad was a university biologist, and he suspected Umberto, the family cat. Docs were skeptical, and local vets refused to swab the healthy cat because they thought it would require general anesthesia.

The dad finally persuaded the university animal hospital to test the cat as a research project.

quote:

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On April 4, while the entire family was taking antibiotics for the seventh bout of strep in as many months, Umberto was seen by Barry-Heffernan and a vet student. They whisked Umberto, who Barry-Heffernan said seemed “perfectly healthy,” into a nearby room and quickly swabbed his throat. Neither anesthesia nor oxygen was required. “Umberto was a really nice cat,” she recalled, so the procedure wasn’t difficult.

To the surprise of the vet school faculty, group A strep was found in the cat’s throat; it appeared to match the strain of strep collected during Levitis’s most recent throat culture. “Almost certainly Umberto was contributing to the family’s infections,” Barry-Heffernan said.

She prescribed antibiotics for the cat and a disinfectant spray for his fur. And the Levitis family was given another round of antibiotics.

Soon afterward they left on a previously scheduled two-week trip to Costa Rica. In their absence Umberto was given his medication, and the house was professionally cleaned for a second time.

Since then, Levitis said, no one has had strep.

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LINK