Life-Threatening Respiratory Pasteurellosis Associated With Palliative Pet Care

Pasteurella multocida is a zoonotic Gram-negative coccobacillus often associated with soft tissue infections due to dog and cat bites. Here we report 3 patients who developed life-threatening P. multocida respiratory tract infections after providing palliative care to their dying pets. The majority of patients with Pasteurella multocida infections are bitten or scratched by the offending animal [ 1 ]. The mortality of P. multocida infections, especially severe and invasive infections like pneumonia, could be more pronounced than that seen with bite infections [ 2 , 3 ]. We report 3 patients with lifethreatening P. multocida respiratory tract infections associated with palliative pet care. A PubMed search revealed no report of zoonotic illness associated with palliative pet care. Because more than 50% of pet owners consider pets as family members [ 4 ]a nd because of the likely expansion of palliative pet care services [ 5 ], providers of palliative pet care will likely have more frequent close contact with dying animals and may be at risk for invasive P. multocida infections. Pet owners, veterinarians, animal caretakers, and physicians should therefore be aware of the potential risk of life-threatening respiratory P. multocida infections in the setting of palliative pet care. In patients with possible zoonotic infection, the physician’s history about patientanimal contact should routinely include questions regarding end-of-life animal care. METHODS