Animal Diseases and Your Health (Print Version)

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Animal Diseases and Your Health

URL of this page: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/animaldiseasesandyourhealth.html

Also called: Also called: Zoonoses

Animal diseases that people can catch are called zoonoses. About 75 percent of the new diseases affecting humans in the past decade can be traced to animals or animal products. You can get a disease directly from an animal, or indirectly, through the environment.

Farm animals can carry diseases. If you touch them or things they have touched, like fencing or buckets, wash your hands thoroughly. Adults should make sure children who visit farms or petting zoos wash up as well.

Pets can also make you sick. Reptiles pose a particular risk. Turtles, snakes and iguanas can transmit bacteria to their owners. You can get rabies from an infected dog or toxoplasmosis from handling kitty litter of an infected cat. The chance that your dog or cat will make you sick is small. You can reduce the risk by practicing good personal hygiene, keeping pet areas clean and keeping your pets' shots up-to-date.

Start Here

Healthy Pets Healthy People: Browse by Disease(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/browse_by_diseases.htm
Keeping Pets (and People) Healthy(Food and Drug Administration) - http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2004/104_pets.html
Pets and Your Health(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/teen/infections/fungal/pet_infections.html

Overviews

Healthy Pets Healthy People(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/Features/HealthyPets/
Infections That Pets Carry(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/pet_infections.html

Latest News

Seven People in U.S. Hit by Strange New Swine Flu(04/23/2009, Reuters Health) - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_83324.html

Specific Conditions

Cryptosporidium Infection and Animals(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/diseases/cryptosporidiosis.htm
CWD: Chronic Wasting Disease(American Veterinary Medical Association) - http://www.avma.org/animal_health/brochures/cwd/cwd_brochure.asp
Diseases from Birds(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/birds.htm
Diseases from Cats(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/cats.htm
Diseases from Dogs(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/dogs.htm
Diseases from Farm Animals(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/farm_animals.htm
Diseases from Fish and Amphibians(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/aquarium.htm
Diseases from Horses(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/horse.htm
Diseases from Pocket Pets(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/pocket_pets.htm
Diseases from Reptiles(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/reptiles.htm
Diseases from Wildlife(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/wildlife.htm
Is a Turtle the Right Pet for Your Family?(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/spotlight_an_turtles.htm
Key Facts about Tularemia(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/tularemia/facts.asp
Also available in Spanish http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/tularemia/espanol/facts.asp
Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus from Pet Rodents(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/lcmv_rodents.htm
Pet Turtles: Cute but Contaminated with Salmonella(Food and Drug Administration) - http://www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/turtles012508.html
Pets and Parasites(American Academy of Family Physicians) - http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/infections/common/parasitic/261.printerview.html
Also available in Spanish http://familydoctor.org/online/famdoces/home/common/infections/common/parasitic/261.printerview.html
Plague and Animals(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/diseases/plague.htm
Ringworm and Animals(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/diseases/ringworm.htm
Rodent Control: Seal Up! Trap Up! Clean Up!(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/
Salmonella Infection (Salmonellosis) and Animals(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/diseases/salmonellosis.htm
Transmission of Influenza A Viruses between Animals and People(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/transmission.htm
What Every Pet Owner Should Know about Roundworms and Hookworms(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - Links to PDF - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/Merial_CDCBroch_rsgWEB.pdf

Related Issues

Animal Health and Consumer Protection(Food and Drug Administration) - http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2006/106_cvm.html
For People at Extra Risk(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/extra_risk.htm
Salmonella Risk from Baby Birds at Easter(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/Features/SalmonellaBabyBirds/
Stay Healthy at Animal Exhibits!(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/spotlight_an_exhbts.htm
Traveling with Pets, Importation of Animals and Animal Products into the United States(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dq/animal/index.htm

Research

Kids and Pets: CDC Advice for Staying Healthy and Happy(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2008/s081006.htm

Journal Articles

References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Article: Compendium of measures to prevent disease associated with animals in... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19407740&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: Eliminating Chagas disease: challenges and a roadmap. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19366739&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: Cross-sectional and longitudinal epidemiologic surveys of human and canine Leishmania... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19346375&tool=MedlinePlus
Animal Diseases and Your Health -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=zoonoses[mh]+OR+psittacosis[mh]+OR+mycobacterium+avium+intracellulare+infection[mh]+OR+q+fever[mh]+NOT+(west+nile+fever[mh]+OR+Influenza+A+Virus,H5N1+Subtype[mh])+AND+english[la]+AND+(review[pt]+OR+guideline[pt]+OR+clinical+trial[pt]+OR+jsubsetk[text]+OR+jsubsetaim[text]+OR+jsubsetn[text]+OR+patient+education+handout[pt])+NOT+(letter[pt]+OR+editorial[pt]+OR+case+reports[pt])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus

Dictionaries/Glossaries

Glossary (Healthy Pets Healthy People)(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/glossary.htm

Organizations

American Veterinary Medical Association - http://www.avma.org/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - http://www.cdc.gov/
Also available in Spanish http://www.cdc.gov/spanish/
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/

Children

How to Stay Safe around Animals(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/kid/watch/house/animals.html

You may also be interested in these MedlinePlus related pages:

Bird Flu - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/birdflu.html
Cat Scratch Disease - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/catscratchdisease.html
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/creutzfeldtjakobdisease.html
H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/h1n1fluswineflu.html
Lyme Disease - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/lymedisease.html
Monkeypox Virus Infections - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/monkeypoxvirusinfections.html
Pet Health - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/pethealth.html
Rabies - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/rabies.html
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/severeacuterespiratorysyndrome.html
Toxoplasmosis - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/toxoplasmosis.html
West Nile Virus - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/westnilevirus.html
Infections - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/infections.html

Date last updated: April 27 2009

Topic last reviewed: December 11 2008