Watch out! Dog Kissing could be fatal

Dog Kissing could be fatal

Many people think that dog kissing is cool. Like every dog owner will tell you, you will always receive the odd lick on your face from your pup. While some people actually enjoy a good show of affection from their furry friend, virologist and medical professionals are against this idea. In his recent explanation to The Hippocratic Post, John Oxford, who is an emeritus professor of bacteriology and virology at the London’s Queen Mary University had this to say. ‘It is not only what saliva contains. Dog spend most of their lives in dirty corners or hovering over dog poo. As such, their muzzles are always filled with viruses, germs and bacteria of all sorts.
Dog Kissing

Case study of Dog Kissing

One woman from the United Kingdom learnt this the hard way after kissing her Italian greyhound. She contracted an infection from the dog’s saliva and stayed in the intensive care unit for weeks suffering from multiple organ failure. Dabbed as ‘lick of death’, her story was aired recently in a BMJ Case Report.

It all started after she noticed of her slurred speech while speaking to a relative on phone, prompting her to call an ambulance. On reaching there, paramedics found her wilting in her armchair after losing consciousness. She regained consciousness on reaching the hospital, where her condition improved. Apart from a severe headache the night before, she did not report any other symptom.

However, after four days, her condition deteriorated and she started complaining of diarrhea, headache, kidney failure and high fever. She continued to suffer from respiratory failure and reduced functioning of the liver. She was later moved to intensive care unit when it became clear that she was suffering from blood poisoning or severe sepsis.

Further tests in her blood showed that she had an infection from bacteria, Capnocytophaga canimorsus. Even though this is a rare condition, this type of bacterium is commonly found in dogs and cat’s mouths. Nonetheless, the woman did not show any signs of scratch marks or bite. This led to the doctors’ conclusion that the transmission was passed through a lick from her Italian greyhound.

Doctor’s Diagnosis on dog kissing

While it is worthwhile to note that the lady was in her seventies, she did not have any causal immune dysfunction. She spent two weeks in intensive care unit under antibiotics treatment till her infection cleared. “In the whole of United Kingdom, only 13 cases have been reported and this is almost the same magnitude in the United State.” Microbiology, associate professor at Penn Vet, Shelley Rankin had this to say to CBS News. She added that this is a normal flora found in dogs’ mouths. Dr.Bruce Farber who is the chief of infectious diseases at the North Shore University Hospital went on to say that, ‘the last thing you can do is alarm people that they will get infected if they get kissed or licked by a dog.’

As such, while it is worth noting that nasty things can be found lurking in a dog’s mouth, it is not always true that pooch-smooches are indeed a death sentence.