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Zoonosis facts for kids

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Burying Plague Victims of Tournai
The bubonic plague, a zoonotic disease, killed one-third of Europe's population in the 1300s. This painting from The Chronicles of Gilles Li Muisis show people burying plague victims

Zoonosis (say: zoh-oh-NOH-sis) is a fancy word for a disease that can spread from animals to humans. These diseases are also called zoonotic diseases. They can be caused by tiny living things like bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites.

Zoonotic diseases are very common around the world. About 60% of all the infectious diseases that people get actually come from animals.

These diseases can spread in different ways. Sometimes, a sick animal can pass the disease directly to a human. This might happen through a bite, like with rabies, or through the air. This is called direct zoonosis.

Other times, a disease spreads through a vector. A vector is an animal that carries the tiny germ (called a pathogen) that causes the disease, but the vector itself doesn't get sick. Diseases spread this way are called vector-borne diseases.

For example, rats can carry the bubonic plague. But they don't usually infect humans directly. Instead, fleas bite the rats and pick up the plague bacteria without getting sick. If that flea then bites a human, it can pass the bacteria to the human, and the person can get the plague. In this case, the rat is the host (where the germ lives), and the flea is the vector.

How Zoonotic Diseases Spread

Through Food

Many illnesses you can get from food are zoonotic diseases. This happens when a person gets sick from eating food that came from a sick animal.

Common germs that cause foodborne illnesses are Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Escherichia coli (often called E. coli) bacteria. Foods like eggs, seafood, meat, poultry, and dairy products can carry these bacteria. They can cause illnesses like food poisoning.

Here are some other zoonotic illnesses you can get from eating or drinking:

Disease Germ Animal Host How it Spreads
Brucellosis Brucella bacteria Cattle, goats, sheep, camels Drinking unpasteurized milk or eating cheese made from it; Eating undercooked meat.
Cholera Vibrio cholerae bacteria Shellfish Eating undercooked shellfish.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Prions Cattle Eating meat from cattle that had mad cow disease.
Listeriosis Listeria bacteria Cattle, fish Drinking unpasteurized milk or eating cheese made from it; Eating undercooked meat or seafood.
Toxoplasmosis Toxoplasma gondii parasite Pigs, lambs, deer, cattle Eating undercooked meat.

You can often avoid foodborne illnesses by cooking meat, seafood, and eggs properly. This kills any harmful bacteria or parasites.

Direct Contact with Animals

Here are some examples of zoonotic diseases that people can get directly from sick, live animals:

Disease Germ Animal Host How it Spreads
Anthrax Bacillus anthracis bacteria Cattle, sheep, goats, camels, horses, pigs Breathing in anthrax spores or getting them on the skin.
Influenza Influenza A virus Horses, pigs, birds, seals, whales, and more Breathing air from infected animals.
Lassa fever Lassa virus Rodents Touching rodent feces (poop).
Rabies Rabies virus Dogs, bats, cattle, monkeys, wolves, and more Infected saliva from a bite or scratch.
Toxoplasmosis Toxoplasma gondii parasite Cats Cat feces (in litter boxes or dirt).
Tuberculosis Mycobacterium bovis bacteria Cattle, deer, llamas, pigs, cats, and more Breathing air, or touching sputum, urine, feces, or pus from infected animals.

Diseases Spread by Vectors

These diseases are spread by a vector, like an insect, that carries the germ from an animal to a human.

Disease Germ Animal Host Vector
African sleeping sickness Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense parasite Many wild and farm animals Tsetse fly.
Bubonic plague Yersinia pestis bacteria Rodents Fleas.
Dengue fever Flaviviruses Humans and primates Aedes mosquitoes.
Lyme disease Borrellia bacteria Rodents Ticks.
Malaria Plasmodium parasites Humans Mosquitoes.
West Nile fever West Nile virus Mostly birds Mosquitoes.

Related pages

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Zoonosis para niños

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