“I’d say, just wipe them down and you’ll be fine,” said Lucy O’Byrne, a veterinarian at the West Village Veterinary Hospital in Manhattan. “As long as you have good flea and tick control, and keep your pet healthy the way most people do, you don’t have to worry.”

DR. CHOMEL, author of the C.D.C. study, doesn’t disagree. There is far more risk, he warned, with pet licks and kisses. If you have a wound or if your immune system is compromised, licking should be avoided. (Meaning, don’t let the dog lick you — the hazards involved in the other way around have not been researched.) It’s also not good for babies. And there have been cases of animals spreading resistant strains of staph infections and other diseases by licking cuts and wounds after surgery, so it’s not recommended that pets be allowed in bed then.

On the other hand, what would Patricia Garcia-Gomez have done without a dog in bed after major surgery? Six months after falling in love with her boyfriend, but not his territorial Rhodesian ridgeback, Sylvie (who made it clear that she didn’t like her turf being invaded by urinating in his apartment while staring into Ms. Garcia-Gomez’s eyes), she was recuperating when the Great Dane-size dog surprised her by joining her in bed. It was a great comfort.

“She’s been in bed with us since,” said Ms. Garcia-Gomez, who works in branding and lives in Manhattan (and is happy to provide Sylvie’s age, 8 ½, but not her own). “It can also be tricky, because when she stretches, she pushes us off. Humans only have two big legs, and she has four.”

Ms. Garcia-Gomez doesn’t worry about the dog’s giant licks, despite the fact that they present a real risk — just as the popular notion that dog saliva is cleaner than human saliva is a real myth.

“I’ll just continue to believe what I want to believe,” she said.

AND why not? Even if licking is risky, the risks might well be offset by the benefits, given the evidence suggesting that pets can increase longevity and boost the immune system.