Due to our own rapid success 2009 has been a year of preparation for an International Conference (September) Bella Moss Foundation continue to give talks to veterinarians and pet owners, we also attend exhibitions around the country and give media interviews. We have become the victim of our own success, with little time to update and archive the website. A new website is being created and we would welcome a volunteer or sponsorship to help us create up to date news for our visitors:info@thebellamossfoundationcom
VETS.TV - Interview: Jill Moss - MRSA and vets
Jill Moss, founder of the Bella Moss Foundation, talks to VETS.TV at the BSAVA Congress 2008 about her campaign to make vets and pet owners more aware of the threat of MRSA.
Jill Moss set up the Bella Moss Foundation after her dog, Bella, died from an MRSA infection after routine surgery. In this interview she talks about the growing awareness of MRSA and what still needs to be done.
see video on: http://www.vets.tv/video.php?vid=99&cid=9.
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The Bella Moss Foundation was once again supported by veterinary student volunteers on its stand at Discover Dogs.
This year, hand hygiene was the theme presented by The Foundation to those that visited the stand, and Peter Purves, Foundation Vice-Patron and Marc Abraham, resident vet on the Paul O’Grady Show and kennel club veterinary advisor were there to help get the message across.
Using a hand cream that showed up under ultra-violet light, visitors to the stand were able to see how effective their hand washing was. Jill Moss, President of The Foundation said “Most pet owners understand the importance of hygiene, but sometimes we need to see just how difficult it is to get our hands properly clean. This exercise has been brilliant in helping understand this.”
Marc Abraham said “Even though vets and vet nurses get training in hand hygiene we need to remember that everyone involved in the care of animals has a responsibility to aim for the very best standard of cleanliness. Showing pet owners, vets and vet nurses how much they need to do to get their hands really clean is a great way of concentrating the mind.”
Peter Purves is well known for his long involvement in animal welfare, and he dropped by to see the demonstrations. “All pet owners need to know that keeping their hands as clean as possible is the most effective way of protecting a sick pet from harmful bacteria. Anything that helps them get this right is a good thing.” He said.
The Foundation also received help from Max4 Health, a charity working to improve hand hygiene, in the form of badges, balloons and posters giving guidance on good hand washing techniques. “Most of the time we don’t think about how effectively we wash our hands” said Jill, “and Max Health already has an excellent track record in improving hand washing technique among NHS staff. We are very grateful that Max Health wants to help us do the same for pet owners.”
Jill received special help this year from the student vets from the Royal Veterinary College who volunteered to help on the stand. “The Foundation gets a fantastic response from students every time we have an event,” she said, “and it makes a difference to the people who visit our stand to know that the vets of the future are playing such an important role in delivering The Foundation’s message.” In all, twelve student spent time on the stand talking to pet owners about ways of protecting pets and preventing avoidable infections.
The Bella Moss Foundation would like to express gratitude to Hygienic solutions for giving us a gloworm testing kit for the show, and to Max4health charity for all of their contributions.
Quotes from student volunteers
Emily Marriott (RVC student )
I found the experience very rewarding, The Bella Moss Foundation educate and inform owners without scaremongering, everyone who stopped by was grateful for the information we provided on animal health. We talked about hygiene in veterinary practices and in general how good most practices were, but the public said there should be set standards of hygiene in animal hospitals as there is in human hospitals, that it should not be left up to individual practices to decide to practice standards of care when it comes to infection control. We also discussed with owners the importance of limiting the use of antibiotics in their pets and how crucial it is for the animal’s health to identify present bacteria before beginning antibiotic treatment begins. This is the message that BMF advisors give to vets and nurses through training seminars and we need to get the public on board so that pet owners do not expect to have pets treated when it is not necessary.
MRSA is a relatively obscure subject and I enjoyed learning about the issue more in-depth. It is good to be aware of issues like this that though rare are important, especially as I am about to start my clinical EMS. I hope to be more involved with the Bella Moss foundation in the future."
I hope that is ok if you want me to write more or on a different subject please let me know.
Carla Quinn 3rd year Bvetmed RVC
Jade Searle
"As an undergraduate medical student I received an abundance of training relating to infection control procedures and the threat of MRSA and related 'superbugs' in hospitals. As a postgraduate veterinary student, I am completely shocked by the lack of proper standards in veterinary care, and will endeavour to support the Bella Moss foundation in their crucial campaigning.'
'I was met with mixed responses towards the campaign by the Bella Moss Foundation to implement standard infection control measures in veterinary practices. It seems the same fight that was fought within the medical world for doctors to 'simply wash their hands' will also be an unjustly hard battle in the veterinary world. We need to educate people. I thank Jill Moss for educating me.'
Click here for older news
Crufts 2008
The Foundation once again had a stand at the most prestigious dog show in the world, and we took that opportunity to make the formal announcement of our status as a Registered Charity. Visitors to the stand included television vet Marc Abraham who appears regularly on The New Paul O’Grady Show and who has become a key supporter of the Bella Moss Foundation, and Director of Dogs Trust Chris Laurence. Foundation Honorary vice Patron Peter Purves welcomed the news that charity status had been granted. I am delighted to hear that the valuable work done in the area of infectious diseases in animals can now move on to the next phase due to the Bella Moss Foundation's new status as a charity. The extent of MRSA and other diseases in dogs is not really known, only the fact that the numbers are rising. Vets will welcome the support and information provided by the charity - I can see nothing but good coming from this"
Follow this link to read the article that appeared in Our Dogs http://www.ourdogs.co.uk/News/2008/Mar2008/News140308/bella.htm
BSAVA
Back in November 2007 The Foundation attended the BSAVA Congress and was able to meet with the leaders of veterinary institutions, and with Chief executives and Directors of companies interested in supporting our projects. Jill would also like to say a grateful thanks to the BSAVA for allowing her to address the nursing audience during the sessions on infection control.
Jill also appeared on BVA television talking about MRSA and the work of the foundation.
Thanks to those who help
The Foundation would like to thank three people who have been of enormous help to us behind the scenes: Tina Mueller Griffiths is an animal behaviourist who’s Great Dane Mr Otto recovered from MRSA two years ago; Tina helps us with preparation for dogs shows. Lorena Shimmin, who is taking a Masters in animal management at University of Lincoln, has been particularly helpful in preparing our brochures and handouts. Wendy Nevine a veterinary nurse who also helps us write information leaflets, Vicky Yates who support and helps pet owners who are bereaved and generally helps with the foundation.
BMF NEEDS VOLUNTEERS
If you have a special skill or would like to help us, we need people to do the following:
Talk to pet owners on the phone that have lost a pet and need ongoing support and understanding. Perhaps you have had a pet and been in this situation.
If you are good at dealing with the public we need help at dogs show events. Or, if you prefer to stay behind the scenes, we need people who can help us raise awareness of our work. This is something you can do this from you PC! If you have great writing skills why not help us write more regular updates?
If you would like to become a BMF helper please email info@thebellamossfoundation.com
Or call Jill Moss on 07860 879079
Seminars for the veterinary profession
Following Crufts we presented another series of CPD seminars for vets and we would like to thank the Janssen Animal Health team for all their hard work in making the series possible.
The seminars were again very well received and we would like to thank all of the speakers who found time in their schedules to work with us. The feedback from the seminars tells us that there is a change taking place among UK vets who are now much more aware of the importance of targeted treatment over the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and the need for a systematic approach to infection control generally, but this is a message that still needs to reach some areas.
http://tahilla.typepad.com/petsmrsa/2008/04/mrsa-seminars-f.html#more
BMF in the USA
Due to the rise in numbers of people approaching us through the website we have enlisted the help of Andie Irwin whose dog, Cooper, recovered from MRSA. Andie lives in New Jersey and has been an enormous help in providing support to the American owners who contact us. Also in the US is Lori Spagnoli whose cat, Momo, still has MRSA in the bladder and proving very hard to treat. Without Lori The Foundation would be lost because every time we attend an event she takes care of all of our emails. A very big thank you to Lori, Andie and Dr Kim Bloomer our natural pet health care educator, and a special thanks to homeopathic vet Richard Allport who has been such great help to many pet owners whose companions have MRSA; Richard has been a tower of strength to so many people.
At the moment The Foundation is dealing with many cases from the US. MRSA is affecting all animals from pigs to birds, domestic pets and rodents and we are hearing of more cases of resistant strains of staph intermedius in dogs.
The US presents a challenge for BMF because there appears to be much less awareness of MRSA among front-line vets. We now have our brochures for vets distributed at several veterinary conferences across the US and with the help of our veterinary advisors in the US and Canada we hope to continue to raise awareness across North America.
Thanks to those who support our work
We would like to say a special thanks to Pure Green 24, who have sponsored all of our literature for USA vets and owners and who also offer help and advice on infection control in the home.
Also thanks go to Pet Plan Charitable Trust, Idexx laboratories and Veterinary Business Development and Vet Times who sponsored our CPD educational seminars this spring.
Thanks are also given to Dogs Trust Harefield rehoming centre and hospital and all of the staff there who assisted us with our educational project for nurses.
Thanks also to Stockbury Dog Club who continue to support our work
New Advisor
We welcome a new advisor, Mike Jessop, who is a practicing vet and past President of the BSAVA. (British Small Animal Veterinary Association)
www.thebellamossfoundation.com
Take a look at our advisors page, our page on What Vets Say about Us and our Sponsors page and testimonial page from pet owners who we have helped.
Dogs Monthly reports on the BMF
Dogs Monthly carried a recent article about the work of The Foundation written by Nick Mays. Nick is a well-known vet in Kent and has given great support to our work. We appreciate the time and trouble he took in writing the article.
Speaking to vets and other groups concerned with veterinary issues
The Foundation continues to give talks to vet practices and other groups who want to learn more about our work. In July we spoke at the special meeting of the Veterinary Products Committee meeting in Guildford alongside Tim Nuttall our advisor and senior dermatologist from Liverpool University (leahurst vet school)
2008 we have exhibited at dog’s shows throughout the summer
Cold wet nose day, pets and people show, paws in the park, a big thanks to dogs today for supporting our work at the cold wet nose day. We will be at Earls Court in November at Discover Dogs where we will have celebrities supporting out work.
New Educational website
October will see the launch of a new Bella Moss Foundation website that will bring information on a range of veterinary issues to veterinary nurses and other practice staff. Veterinary Nurse Training Online will be launched at the British veterinary Nurses Association Congress in October with a module on MRSA and infection control followed by modules on other aspects of veterinary care over the next few months. The launch module is sponsored by Petplan Charitable Trust and content has been developed in association with the College of Animal Welfare and staff at the Royal Veterinary College.
2009 International Conference on Resistant Infections in Animals
Planning for this event is going ahead with the commitment from Defra of financial support. The event is being organised in association with the American Society of Microbiology and will give eminent scientists and clinicians a chance to get together and present the latest research on MRSA in animals and the impact this has on public health over three days. A Clinicians’ Day will run in parallel
Press Coverage
Work about The Foundation continues to be covered in the press and recently we have commented on ST398 which is a strain of MRSA found to be colonising humans and pigs in Holland and Belgium, recently found in humans in Scotland. More on this on our www.pets-mrsa.com website.
http://tahilla.typepad.com/petsmrsa/files/MRSAPigs.pdf BMF quoted in Sunday Post article on pigs strain of MRSA found in the UK.
Jill attends regular antimicrobial resistance sub group meetings for DEFRA who have formed a committee on MRSA in animals. This meets every 6 months and reports to government on developments and new research. Also Jill is a member of DEFRA’s consumer engagement committee on animal welfare which is concerned with all diseases affecting animals. And Jill is an associate member of AGPAW the all party group on animal welfare.
Jill Moss Founder and President of the Bella Moss Foundation
“It has been a personal journey over the last four years from pet owner to president of an international charity helping hundreds of people and animals, now I represent the voice of British pet owners on government committees and I am proud of the achievements we have made in such a short time.
Mostly we have helped thousands of people – but sadly we have lost some animals along the way. Mt role as President is to represent the pet owning public to government – raise awareness in the media and public domain of MRSA in animals, raise the funds for academic research and education for vets and nurses and support pet owners in crisis and help educate pet owners on how to avoid their pets acquiring resistant infections. I liaise with pet owners and their vets both here and in the USA where there is a huge problem of community strains and vets have little knowledge.
If you are an animal lover and concerned with preventing the spread of MRSA please consider helping The Bella Moss Foundation. Contact me on 07860 879079 or email
info@thebellamossfoundation.com
We are a growing charity and we need people with time and skills that can help us raise more awareness and funds, whatever your strongest skill give us a little of your time and it could go a long way to helping save lives”
How you can help us and protect your pet
You can help us by volunteering to give out our information at events we organise, put on your own fundraising event, hand out our brochures to your local community, talk to vets make sure they are aware of our work and tell other pet owners about us so we can all gain knowledge on good infection control. Remember healthy animals are not at risk from MRSA but any animal having surgery could develop resistant bacteria. You can make sure your vet is up to date on the standards of infection control that protect practices and we can provide training, you can do what you can by keeping your pets healthy, avoid over use of antibiotics and avoid unnecessary hospitalisation for your pet as this increases the risk of acquiring a post operative infection.
Charity Status
On January 9th 2008 The Bella Moss Foundation became a
Registered Charity, number 1122246. This was the culmination of many
months’ work and the Trustees, Jill Moss, Mark Dosher and
Elizabeth Yareham would like to thank the Charities Commission for
the support and help they gave during the application process.
2007
During
2007 we continued to provide support and information to pet owners
whose pets contracted infections and to owners infected with MRSA
having concerns about the welfare and safety of their pet. Enquiries
through the website increased markedly throughout the year with
significant numbers coming from the United States, and we have now
enlisted the support and assistance of Dr Scott Weese of the
University of Guelph, Ontario, and Dr Andrew Hillier of the
University of Ohio Veterinary Teaching Hospital to provide expert
veterinary advice to Canada and the United States.
I am so proud ”said Jill, to be the Founder and president of a Charity
in Bella’s name that has helped so many people across the world. The
Foundation is going from strength to strength and is now a global point of
reference and support for veterinarians and pet owners.”
Government Support
The
Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
now recognises The Bella Moss Foundation as an important organisation
in promoting the health of companion animals, particularly MRSA, and
the views of lay pet owners. Jill continues to be a member of the
DEFRA Anti-microbial Resistance Committee sub-group on MRSA,
and also DEFRA’s Consumer Engagement committee on animal
welfare. Both Committees discuss research and planning courses of
action to benefit animal welfare. There are now links between the
DEFRA website and that of The Foundation and this indicates
the degree of confidence that DEFRA has in the work of The
Foundation.
DEFRA
has also agreed to support the planned 2nd International
Conference on MRSA in Animals to be held in Hertfordshire in 2009,
and the Department of Health has expressed a strong interest in being
associated with the event as well. The conference is planned to
follow up on the research and practice reported at the 1st
International Conference held in 2006 that for the first time brought
together in the UK the world’s leading experts on MRSA in
animals. The Foundation has already begun the preparatory work and
will work closely with the other organisations involved in developing
and presenting the event.
Companion Events
In
2007 we exhibited at Crufts in Birmingham, at Discover Dogs at Earls
Court, London, the Midlands People and Pet Show and other companion
animal events around the country bringing information not only to pet
owners but to people who were just interested in pets and wanted to
know of our work. This includes a large number of people who have
mrsa and have concerns for their pets. We advise on prevention of
cross infection and liaise with vets and GP’s when necessary.
Royal
Veterinary College Students at Discover Dogs (BMF stand)
The
Bella Moss Foundation is very grateful to Terry Mansfield CBE
(Chairman Hearst Media Corporation) whose pet, Inca, had recovered
from an infection of MRSA. Inca became the star of our stand at
Discover Dogs, Earls Court and Inca received great recognition for
her role in many animal and veterinary press journals. We are very
grateful to Terry for bringing her along. The Foundation would also
like to thank all of the volunteers, many of them veterinary students
and student nurses from Royal Veterinary College, Cambridge
Veterinary School and Nottingham and Cambridge Veterinary School for
their help at our events. We have found that veterinary students gain
a lot of information about mrsa and enjoy attending our events,
having a chance to talk to the public about mrsa and other serious
infections affect8ing companion animals.
Jill Moss with Terry Mansfield and Inca
The
foundation is constantly giving talks about our work, and we are
grateful to the Stock bury Dog Club for allowing us to talk to their
members and for granting us a very generous donation which we shall
use to aid the care for sick animals. We are also pleased to have
given talks about our work for Blue Cross animal hospital (London,
and Grimsby)
Veterinary Events
The
start of 2007 saw the continuation of our Continuing Professional
Development programme for vets and veterinary nurses presented in
association with Janssen Animal health. We were able to deliver
seminars across the Midlands and the North of England and the
response from those attending was almost universally positive. We
weren’t able to visit all parts of the UK so plans are in hand
to remedy this in 2008. We have had enormous feedback from veterinary
practices who inform us that they have completely re-evaluated their
infection control protocol as a result of attending these seminars,
which were presented by Professor David Lloyd (RVC) Amanda Boag (RVC)
and Tim Nuttall (University of Liverpool).
Helping
pet owners
In
2007 we received increasing numbers of enquiries from pet owners on
issues related to infections in their pets. We weable to offer
information and support to everyone who contacted us, and we were
also able to put front-line vets in touch with clinical experts where
necessary. Some of those who got in touch have provided testimonials
for the website, and these can be viewed at
http://www.thebellamossfoundation.com/testimonials.asp
We
know how important it is for pet owners to be properly informed on
MRSA and also how important it is for them to have a good
relationship with their vet. We always try to bring pet owner and vet
together when MRSA strikes and know how unhelpful it can be to the
welfare of an animal if the two sides cannot work together.
Fortunately, there is increasing evidence that, with the right
treatment at the right time, MRSA can be successfully overcome. In
particularly vulnerable animals it can still be very difficult to
treat, but with increasing awareness among vets and pet owners there
is an increasing likelihood of recovery. The foundation has helped
hundreds of animals with early detection and targeted treatment of
antibiotics. It is important for pet owners to ask for swabs and
cultures to be taken when bacteria is suspected and void long term
broad spectrum antibiotics. Our experts will liaise with pet owners
vets to advise further on cases.
PRESS
We
continue to conduct interviews in the press on mrsa in animals and we
will be updating the website regularly with articles that have been
published. We have just recently conducted an interview with Dogcast
radio and a download is available at
http://www.dogcastradio.com/episode58.php
The
foundation also receives regular coverage in Dogs Today and Our Dogs
as well as Veterinary Times. The new BMF website will update all of
our interviews in the spring.
2008
Raising awareness across the USA
The
levels of community strains of MRSA effecting people and animals are
a real concern. The dominant strain being reported to the foundation
is USA 300 and it is probably only a matter of time before we see
this strain emerging worldwide. More awareness needs to be raised
among the US veterinary profession and public, and The Bella Moss
Foundation is now conducting a series of interviews about MRSA for
American media networks. We are also planning pod cast broadcasts and
internet online training for pet owners and veterinary professionals.
American
owners whom we have helped have come on board and now we are
delighted to announce that we have a network of USA
representatives who want to help us with our work.
Dr
Kim Bloomer USA representative for the Bella Moss Foundation (New
Mexico,USA)
Since
first “meeting” Jill Moss online in January of 2005, I’ve
been working behind the scenes in the USA to help educate on MRSA in
animals. Almost every single USA pet owner we meet through The Bella
Moss Foundation tells us that they didn’t know that pets could
get MRSA and that the Bella Moss Foundation was the only place they
could find real help for their pets. I joined with the Bella
Moss Foundation because of Jill and Bella’s story initially,
and now I stay because I see what tremendous progress has been made
but we’ve miles to go to achieve the vision of the foundation.
I believe the USA needs the help of The Bella Moss Foundation in
order to go forward in preventing these types of infectious diseases
that we’ve brought about as a result of focusing entirely on
one type of medicine only, believing only in eradicating disease
rather than preventing it through a whole health approach. This
foundation would not exist if not for the avoidable tragedy that
befell Jill and Bella but out of the ashes there is arising new life.
Through education we can prevent tragedies like these and it is my
fervent hope that the USA will see the huge need to join together
with the Bella Moss Foundation so that we’ll save lives. Animal
lives count, they are not disposable beings.
It
is my dream to see integration in veterinary medicine with all health
practitioners – allopathic, homeopathic, naturopathic, etc. -
working together for the best possible health care for animals.
The
next two statements are from two pet owners in the USA whose pets
have been infected with MRSA. Their testimonials are on our pages
Lori
Spagnoli USA Representative (New Jersey, USA)
"We
can think of no better way to neither conclude 2007 nor embark upon a
truly new beginning of 2008 than with all the many meaningful
blessings bestowed upon us by the best thing that has happened to our
cat, Momo, in this past year by discovering The Bella Moss
Foundation. By honoring Bella's life and her heedless tragic
death occasioned by others' ignorance and fear of MRSA, Jill Moss has
chosen to selflessly give the gift of life to so many others
including our beloved Momo. Because of the many substantive doors the
Foundation has opened thereby placing Momo directly on the road
to recovery, it is our intention to honor Jill and Bella and express
our deep gratitude to them both by agreeing to serve as a US
representative in order to give back in some small way and in so
doing help other infected animals and their owners in their time of
need by sharing Momo's example and her experiences with others.
Andrea
Irwin USA Representative (Castle
Creek, NY USA
Last
year, when my dog Cooper was diagnosed with MRSA, I was scared,
frustrated and confused. Fortunately, I found Jill and the Bella
Moss Foundation. When Jill lost her beloved Bella to MRSA, she made a
commitment to help others who were facing the same situation. I'm
grateful to Jill and the foundation for the information (which was
sadly lacking in the United States) and support, so I've made her
goal my goal. I look forward to helping the foundation with their
mission to reach the public with their important message. MRSA is
preventable, if we are educated and work together.
Advisors
of the Bella Moss Foundation more on this at
http://www.thebellamossfoundation.com/advisors.asp
Our
Advisors have been invaluable to the way the Foundation has been able
to help both pet owners and veterinary practices worldwide.
The
foundation would like to thank the following organisations for
helping us with furthering education and raising awareness by
sponsoring our events and literature.
DEFRA
(Department of Food and Rural Affairs)
Pet
Plan Ltd
Pet
Plan Charitable Trust
Janssen
Animal Health
Idexx
Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
Skin
sure vet
PureGreen24 disinfectant
Stock
bury Dog Club
Imagen
Marketing Communications
Memorial
Memories
In
2008
The
Bella Moss Foundation will be updating our websites and making access
to information easier, the website address will not change. We will
also be launching an interactive website for veterinary nurses which
will contain clinical and practical information on MRSA. This
project is sponsored by Pet Plan Charitable Trust and is to be
launched in the spring of 2008.
The
Foundation will give an extensive talk to the Veterinary Medicines
Directorate about our work and will finalise plans for an 2009
International Conference on mrsa in animals. We shall keep you
updated -
Watch this space for an update after Crufts March 6-9th 2008.
