A recent study published in The American Journal of Infection Control really made me sit back and wonder, how far are we - or should we - be willing to go, to keep from getting sick?  The study reported the results of a team of researchers who entered people's houses, swabbed every surface, cultured the results, then correlated the presence of MRSA with other factors.

They found that MRSA (drug resistant staph, one of the "superbugs" which is currently causing a great deal of concern and harm) was present in half of the households.  They tried to correlate MRSA with other factors, like having a child or regularly visiting the gym.

What they found was the family cat.  "Cat owners were eight times more likely than others to have MRSA at home."

There are a number of possible reasons for this, including the idea that animals can serve as a reservoir for MRSA without being themselves infected.  The article also cites the case of a diabetic man whose dalmation served as a reservoir for MRSA in his home.  Furthermore, we can assume that vets are less likely to wash their hands than doctors - and even doctors aren't great at handwashing - so transmission of MRSA may be higher in the veterinary setting.

What the researchers concluded was that you should wash your hands after coming into contact with your pet, and not wash pet food bowls in the same sink where food is prepared.  (I'm a little stymied by that one.  I have two sinks: the kitchen sink, and the bathroom sink where I brush my teeth.  How am I supposed to wash my cats' bowls?  Should I take them next door and use my neighbor's utility sink? Also I would like to point out that I am not in the habit of putting FOOD in the kitchen sink, since that's where the dirty dishes go.)

Also, don't let your dog lick your face.  Turns out your grandmother was right, YOU COULD GET GERMS OMG.

This is the point at which I start thinking about "the clean hypothesis."  As a rule I roll my eyes at people who blame too much handwashing for all of our immunity ills.  This line of thinking partly depends on a kind of herd immunity.  One person can get away with having slack personal hygiene, because most of us are pretty hygienic.  If everyone stopped washing their hands, it would please the "clean hypothesis" folks, but also we would all die of e. coli, cholera, and influenza infections.

On the other hand, we have these MRSA researchers, who apparently want us to suit up in plastic biohazard suits before playing fetch with our dogs, or snuggling up on the couch with our cats.  MRSA is a big problem, but I'm sensing a "blame the victim" push coming.  If we can blame people for being unhygienic with their pets, then maybe we don't have to blame the doctors who overprescribed the antibiotics which caused the antibiotic-resistant staph to crop up in the first place.