Another Thing We Share With Our Dogs: E. Coli Bacteria

Ultimately, it seems like a fair trade: they give us ticks; we give them bacteria. The Los Angeles Times reports on research conducted at Kansas State University whose results show that 10 percent of dog-and-owner pairs share the same strains of E. coli bacteria. Should we care?
Only if the particular strains of E. coli are drug resistant, and the Kansas researchers did, in fact, find more drug resistant strains than were expected. So maybe we should care. But wait: The researchers also found that it’s the dogs who get the short end of the stick, so to speak. 
The humans carried more drug resistant bacteria than their pets, and were therefore more likely to share the bad bugs with good dogs. 
Read more in the L.A. Times.