Abstract
Animal-assisted interventions are widely implemented in different contexts worldwide. Particularly, animal-assisted therapies and animal-assisted activities are often implemented in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and other health facilities. These interventions bring several benefits to patients but can also expose them to the risk of infection with potentially zoonotic agents. The dog is the main animal species involved used in these interventions. Therefore, we aimed at collecting data regarding the occurrence of the pathogens ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter spp.) in dogs, in order to draft guidelines concerning the possible monitoring of dogs involved in animal-assisted therapies and animal-assisted activities in healthcare facilities. We performed a literature search using the PRISMA guidelines to examine three databases: PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Out of 2604 records found, 52 papers were identified as eligible for inclusion in the review/meta-analysis. Sixteen papers reported data on E. faecium; 16 on S. aureus; nine on K. pneumoniae; four on A. baumannii; eight on P. aeruginosa; and six on Enterobacter spp. This work will contribute to increased awareness to the potential zoonotic risks posed by the involvement of dogs in animal-assisted therapies, and animal-assisted activities in healthcare facilities.
Highlights
Animal Assisted Interventions (AAIs) comprise a broad array of planned activities that involve animals for the purpose of improving human health and wellness
Considering the great recent attention to these bacteria causing of nosocomial death by their characteristics of antibiotic resistance [110], the articles indexed and published in the last twenty years have been considered; the type of sample performed from the dog was highlighted to assess the variety of tropism of these bacteria and to make a prediction of the body regions at risk of contamination and with which the patients/users involved make contact directly or indirectly; in our opinion, it was noteworthy to consider the category of belonging of the dog since the dogs that are involved in the AAIs, and in particular in the AAT, are owned dogs [5,6,111,112]
There is moderate attention by researchers to the role of the dog as a vector of the bacteria of the ESKAPE group, the international scientific literature is still not very sensitive and is scarcely aimed at assessing the risk related to the presence of these bacteria in the dogs involved in the AAT and Animal-Assisted Activities (AAA) in the health context
Summary
Animal Assisted Interventions (AAIs) comprise a broad array of planned activities that involve animals for the purpose of improving human health and wellness. AAIs involve activities with teams of humans and animals with the aim of achieving therapeutic (Animal Assisted Therapy; AAT) or educational (Animal Assisted Education; AAE) goals. The AAIs include Animal-Assisted Activities (AAA), such as informal interactions/visitations conducted on a volunteer basis by those teams for motivational, educational, or recreational purposes [1]. AATs provide well-being, promote the health of the patients [2], and assist in cognitive, emotional–affective, social, and linguistic rehabilitation [3,4,5,6]. Results of several studies mainly involving dogs indicate significant benefits of AAT in people with psychophysical and mental health disorders, such as adults with Autism Spectrum. As reported by Serpell and colleagues [11], various animal species are used in
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