The next time your dog greets you with lots of kisses and licks on your face, there's something you should think about: your pet can give you an infection you definitely don't want.

More and more domestic animals are contracting MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant strain of staph infection that can cause terrible lesions, and worst case scenario, death.

"Pets actually get it from people and pets then can transmit it back to people," said Veterinary Dermatologist Dr. Nadine Znajda of Florida Veterinary Specialists. She says symptoms are not always obvious.

"Sometimes these animals or people have no clinical signs whatsoever. Sometimes a little bit of a runny nose and then on rare occasions the ones we tend to see in our veterinary dermatology department are the animals that get skin lesions," she said.

USF Associate Professor Dr. Richard Oehler specializes in infectious disease. He says pet owners need to be aware that dogs and cats can spread MRSA and other infections. He and his colleagues at the USF School of Medicine wrote an article about it for a leading medical journal. Oehler says there's a lack of attention brought to the issue.

"Pet owners just need to be educated about the possibility of an infection being transmitted from a pet to a human," said Dr. Oehler.

The infection can be passed between pets and people through open wounds and through the mouth and nasal area.

"It's advisable not to kiss pets in general because they do carry other organisms sometimes," said Znajda.

"As a specialist in infectious disease, we also advise patients who have recently been in the hospital or have certain medical conditions to take extra precautions," said Oehler.

Simple hand washing is the best prevention, as well as the use of hand sanitizers.

Znajda says as incidents of the infection increase in people, doctors are recommending vets test the family pets.

The article is in the July edition of "The Lancet: Infectious Diseases."