Common diseases and parasites pass between pets and humans?

Certain diseases and parasites can be passed between pets and humans.

What are some most common diseases and parasites that can be transmitted between the pets and their human owners? What can be done to prevent it from happening when the pet or the owner is already infected?


Have you ever been affected?

Oh, yes! Ringworm. It's a skin fungus, an "kissing-cousin" to athletes foot. Many years ago I took in a stray kitten that had some scaley patches on it's skin. I just figured it had gotten beat up bu a larger cat. The summer was hot and my cats were cranky, and they developed scaley patches everywhere they had "scored" on each other. I had an infestation of spiders in the basement, so when I developed scaley patches on my arms, I thought I was alergic to spider bites. When I took one of my cats to the vet, she said, "It's ringworm. And it looks like you have it too." So for the next couple of months, I was anointing my cats with a Miconozol Nitrate lotion and rubbing Micotin creme on my rash, and doing a LOT of clothing and bedding laundry. Eventually it cleared up.

It is not life-threatening, but it is EXTREMELY contagious, and the spores that spread it can linger in the environment. Any warm-blooded animal can catch (and pass) it. Isolating the affected animals and disinfecting their living quarters with bleach water is also part of getting rid of it.

By the way, the term for diseases and such that can be spread from animals to humans and vice verse is "zooanotic (sp?). It also includes Lyme disease, and mange (called "scabies" on a human).

(05-01-2012, 06:34 PM)Karenskatz Wrote: By the way, the term for diseases and such that can be spread from animals to humans and vice verse is "zooanotic (sp?). It also includes Lyme disease, and mange (called "scabies" on a human).

It's "Zoonotic".

On top of the ones Karen mentioned I'll go ahead and add the most common reptile zoonotic, which is salmonella. That is why, in the U.S., most places have some type of law or regulation on turtles under 4". Kids used to put them in their mouths. And if the turtle tank isn't cleaned very regularly, it can be a virtual salmonella spawning ground.

There are also various parasites which can transmit from reptiles to human, like coccidia. And there is also psittacosis, from Chlamydophia psittaci, or Chlamydia psittaci. This is more common with wild caught tropical south american birds, but seems to be the underlying cause to problems with certain Emerald Tree Boas, Corallus caninus. And people have been know to contract it from birds.