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Summary
Animal diseases that people can catch are called zoonoses. Many diseases affecting humans 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.
Though they may be cute and cuddly, wild animals may carry germs, viruses, and parasites. Deer and deer mice carry ticks that cause Lyme disease. Some wild animals may carry rabies. Enjoy wildlife from a distance.
Pets can also make you sick. Reptiles pose a particular risk. Turtles, snakes and iguanas can transmit Salmonella 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 hygiene, keeping pet areas clean and keeping your pets' shots up-to-date.
Specifics
- Backyard Poultry (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Bat Influenza (Flu) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish
- Birds Kept as Pets (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Cats: How to Stay Healthy Around Pet Cats (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Coming in Contact with Bats (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- COVID-19 and Animals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish
- Disease Risks for People at Dog Social Events (American Veterinary Medical Association)
- How to Control Wild Rodent Infestations (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- How to Stay Healthy around Dogs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- How to Stay Healthy around Farm Animals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- How to Stay Healthy around Horses (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Key Facts about Tularemia (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Pets and Pasteurella Infections (American Academy of Pediatrics) Also in Spanish
- Ringworm (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Zoonotic Hookworm FAQs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- Article: Phylogenetic analysis of the origin and spread of plague in Madagascar.
- Article: Pet Rats as the Likely Reservoir for Human Seoul Orthohantavirus Infection.
- Article: Interventions to Reduce Risk for Pathogen Spillover and Early Disease Spread...
- Animal Diseases and Your Health -- see more articles
Women
- Toxoplasmosis and Pregnant Women (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)