Zoonotic diseases
Zoonotic diseases are illnesses that are spread between humans and animals. This can happen in a variety of ways – we have contact with animals in our homes, our environments, our travels, our diet, and even our work. Animals can sometimes carry harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites that cause illness in humans, even if the animal appears completely healthy.
Contact between humans and animals can be direct – petting or touching, or being bitten or scratched – as well as indirect. Indirect contact would be being in areas where animals live or surfaces that have been contaminated, such as pet food or chicken coops or waterways. Some foodborne diseases are considered zoonotic, such as when a person becomes sick from eating raw fruits or vegetables contaminated with animal feces, or when they become sick from drinking unpasteurized milk or undercooked meat. Other zoonotic diseases are from being bitten by a tick, mosquito or flea that was infected by an animal.
Zoonotic diseases are categorized by how they are transmitted. For example, rabies is transmitted by bats and other mammals that are at high-risk for developing and spreading disease, while rats and prairie dogs are known as carriers of plague. Tickborne and fleaborne zoonotic diseases include Rocky Mountain Spotted fever, murine typhus, Lyme disease, and babesiosis. Arboviral diseases are those spread by mosquitoes, including West Nile Virus, dengue, malaria, St. Louis encephalitis, Zika, Oropouche fever, and Chikungunya. Parasitic diseases include leishmaniasis, ascariasis, cysticercosis, and hookworm.
The best way to protect yourself and your family members from zoonotic disease is to wash your hands after being around animals; prevent bites from mosquitoes, ticks and fleas; avoid bites and scratches from animals; and be aware of the potential for being exposed to zoonotic diseases when in locations where animals are housed or live.
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