Pet’s licking on your face can make you ill: Study

A new study has revealed that letting your household dogs or pets lick on your face can make you seriously ill. The scientists have revealed that household dogs could carry dangerous antibiotic-resistant Salmonella bacteria, which could affect humans and put them at even life-threatening risks.

The study underlined that it is not just the sick pet, but also the healthy dog that could be spreading this infection.

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have discovered this concerning trend that household dogs can carry and spread drug-resistant strains of Salmonella despite looking healthy. It is to be noted that resistant bacteria can make treating infections difficult in both animals and humans.

“We have this close bond with companion animals in general, and we have a really close interface with dogs,” explains Sophia Kenney, the study’s lead author and doctoral candidate at Penn State, in a statement. “We don’t let cows sleep in our beds or lick our faces, but we do dogs.”

The research team embarked on a detective-style investigation. They tapped into a network of veterinary laboratories that routinely test animals for diseases. Between May 2017 and March 2023, they identified 87 cases where dogs had tested positive for Salmonella. These weren’t arbitrary samples—they came from real cases submitted by veterinarians, regardless of whether the dogs displayed symptoms or appeared perfectly healthy.