article_snippet: A strain of the hospital superbug MRSA can be carried by pets and livestock, say scientists who have found evidence the infection can pass from animals to humans.
article_snippet: Researchers at the University of Nottingham have found two separate cases where people were infected with the strain of infection, and livestock were found to be the cause.
article_snippet: And genetic tests show cats and dogs have the same strain of the bacterium as people.
article_snippet: the bacterium means MRSA could spread between animals at veterinary clinics in a similar way to hospital infections.
article_snippet: But scientists at the University of Nottingham moved to reassure pet owners, adding there is very little risk of pet owners falling ill as a result of an infection passed from pet owners pets.
article_snippet: It comes after cats passed TB to humans for the first time in an outbreak in Newbury, Berkshire last year, feared to have been caused by badgers.
article_snippet: Two people from the same household were treated for bovine tuberculosis after Two people from the same household caught bovine tuberculosis from Two people from the same household kitten. '
article_snippet: The findings were presented at the Annual Conference of the Society for General Microbiology in Birmingham.