Common diseases and parasites pass between pets and humans?

(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.