[(Title)] Adorable or a danger? Therapy dogs spread superbugs sick kids - increasing their risk of infections 600%, doctors warn.

Therapy dogs can bring more than joy and comfort to hospitalized kids. They can also bring stubborn germs.

治疗犬可以为住院的孩子带来更多的快乐和舒适。 它们还可以带来顽固的细菌。

Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore were suspicious that the dogs might pose an infection risk to patients with weakened immune systems.

巴尔的摩约翰霍普金斯医院的医生怀疑这些狗可能对免疫系统衰弱的病人造成感染风险。

So they conducted some tests when Pippi, Poppy, Badger and Winnie visited 45 children getting cancer treatment.

因此，研究人员为45名接受癌症治疗的孩子进行了一些测试。

They discovered that kids who spent more time with the dogs had a six times greater chance of coming away with superbug bacteria than kids who spent less time with the animals.

他们发现，那些花费更多时间与狗一起生活的孩子，与那些花在动物身上的时间较少的孩子相比，有六倍多的机会接触超级细菌。

But the study also found that washing the dogs before visits and using special wipes while they're in the hospital took away the risk of spreading that bacteria.

但该研究还发现，用特殊刷子为狗狗洗澡可以消除传播细菌的风险。

The results of the unpublished study were released Friday at a scientific meeting in San Francisco.

未发表研究的结果在旧金山举行的一次科学会议上公布。

One U.S. health official said the findings add to the growing understanding that while interactions with pets and therapy animals can be beneficial, they can also carry risk.

一位美国卫生官员说，这些发现加深了人们的理解，即虽然与宠物和治疗动物的互动是有益的，但他们也可能带有风险。

'Whether covered in fur, feathers or scales, animals have the potential to carry germs that make people sick,' said Casey Barton Behravesh of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

疾病控制与预防中心说，任何动物都有可能携带导致人们生病的病菌。

Pet therapy can help people recover from a range of health problems. Past studies have shown dogs or other animals can ease anxiety and sadness, lower blood pressure and even reduce the amount of medications some patients need.

宠物治疗有助于人们从各种健康问题中恢复过来。过去的研究表明，狗或其他动物可以减轻焦虑和悲伤，降低血压，甚至减少某些病人需要的药物数量。

But there have been episodes of the superbug MRSA riding around on healthy-looking therapy dogs.

但是有一些超级病菌MRSA出现在健康的治疗犬身上。

MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, often live on the skin without causing symptoms. But they can become more dangerous if they enter the bloodstream, destroying heart valves or causing other damage.

MRSA能存活在皮肤上而不引起任何症状，但如果进入血液、破坏心脏瓣膜或造成其他伤害，它们就会变得更加危险。

Health officials have tied MRSA to as many as 11,000 U.S. deaths a year.

卫生官员将MRSA与每年多达11，000名美国人的死亡联系在一起。

The Baltimore study looked at 45 children who interacted with the four dogs - petting, hugging, feeding or playing with them - over 13 visits in 2016 and 2017.

研究考察了45名儿童，这些儿童在2016年和2017年与四只狗共发生过13次接触（抚摸、拥抱、喂食或与它们一起玩耍）。

Among kids who had no MRSA, the researchers found the superbug on about 10 percent of the samples taken from those kids after the dog visits. They also found MRSA on nearly 40 percent of the samples from the dogs.

在没有MRSA的孩子中，研究人员在狗就诊后从这些孩子身上采集的样本中发现了大约10%的超级细菌。他们还在来自狗的近40%的样本中发现了MRSA。

The researchers also determined that the more time someone spent with the animals, the greater the chance of ending up with the bacteria.

研究人员还确定，一个人与动物相处的时间越长，最终被细菌感染的可能性就越大。

The researchers think the dogs were generally clean of MRSA when they first came to the hospital, but picked it up from patients or others while they were there, said one of the authors, Meghan Davis.

研究人员认为，这些狗一开始来医院时，一般都是不携带MRSA病毒的。病毒是在和其他病人接触后得到的。

Under hospital protocols, therapy dogs must be bathed within a day of a visit and are checked for wounds or other health problems.

根据医院协议，治疗犬必须在与病人接触后一天内洗澡，并接受伤口或其他健康问题的检查。

Children who see them are supposed to use hand sanitizer 'but that wasn't strictly enforced,' said Kathryn Dalton, another one of the researchers.

另一名研究人员凯瑟琳·道尔顿说，接触治疗犬的孩子应该使用洗手液，但这一规定并没有得到严格执行。

Later in the study, the researchers asked the dogs' owners to bathe the animals with a special shampoo before the visits. They also had the dogs patted down every five to 10 minutes with disinfecting wipes at the hospital.

研究结束后，研究人员要求狗的主人在探访前用专门的洗发水给动物洗澡，还让狗每隔5到10分钟用消毒湿巾进行擦拭。

Those steps dramatically decreased the bacteria level on the dogs, Dalton said.

这些步骤极大地降低了狗身上的细菌水平。

She hopes further study will show that such cleanings can reduce any risk of superbug infection.

她希望进一步的研究能够表明这种清洁可以减少任何超级病毒感染的风险。

'I really had the opportunity to see how important these dogs were to the patients,' Dalton said. After the sessions with the dogs, the kids 'would say how much this made their day.'

“这些狗对病人十分重要，”道尔顿说。”你们应该看看在和治疗犬接触后后，孩子们那一天会吃多少东西。”