Zoonotic

(This post is part of the A to Z April blogging challenge.)

It seems appropriate to bookend the month with microbiology related posts. My first post of the A to Z challenge was Anaplasmosis on April 1st, and it is a potentially (via tick vector) zoonotic disease. It's not as famous as Lyme or plague.

Zoonotic is the term for diseases that can be passed from humans to animals. Some sixty odd percent of human diseases are things we can get from critters. Avian and swine flu, rabies, scabies, some strains of skin bacteria, ringworm (a fungal infection of the skin), internal worms, parasites like ticks and fleas... and the flip side is that our critters can get sick from us.

Some of these diseases can be easily transferred via poor hygiene. Giardia (called beaver fever) is fairly common, one of the more recent pet food recalls happened not because people were getting sick, but because humans handling the food were having illnesses. Toxoplasma can change your mood and maybe your behavior.

Hookworms can enter your body through the skin of your bare feet. Ringworm and mange infections can come from petting the wrong animal. Bacterial gastroenteritis can happen if you handle food or treats- even if your dog never shows signs of illness.

Rabies is almost always fatal to humans after symptoms are present and it's untreated (there's a post-exposure vaccine that is very effective.) Rabies generally moves faster in animals than in people, so ten day quarantines are common. If your dog or cat is not vaccinated and they bite someone or another animal, your pet may be euthanized and their brain sent in for testing. Vaccination of pets is vital to their safety, as skunks, bats, and raccoons are common reservoirs.

Cat scratch fever, rabbit fever, beaver fever... there's a lot of names for disease that reflect the animal carrier that infects the human host. Leptospirosis, chlamydia, tuberculosis (usually human to dog transmission), anthrax, and more.

Keep your critters vaccinated, wash your hands, and try to stay safe.

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And that's the end of my April A to Z blogging challenge. Don't know how disjointed it may have been, but I had fun. Tomorrow I'll recap the events of the month that I didn't cover for the A to Z. I'm hoping to get back to training more and visiting the vet less.