Global Health Education Consortium

• Diseases transmitted from animals to humans •> 250 zoonoses have been described • Pathogens include viruses, rickettsia, bacteria, fungi, parasites – Some rare – e.g. rabies – Some common – e.g. Salmonella • Some are very serious (rabies), others are less serious (cat scratch disease) • Several different means of transmission (direct, indirect, vector-borne) Page 2 Zoonoses, direct mechanisms of transmission: • Direct contact by bite/scratch (e.g. rabies, cat-scratch fever, rat-bite fever) • Direct contact by handling of animal (e.g. salmonellosis, avian flu, anthrax, tinea corpora) • Direct infection by ingestion of animal products (e.g. paragonamiasis, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, cystercercosis) Page 3 Zoonoses, indirect mechanisms of transmission: • Indirect infection by ingestion in contaminated water or food (e.g. giardiasis, salmonellosis) • Indirect infection by inhalation of contaminated fluids such as feces, placenta/amniotic fluids, urine, milk, etc. (e.g. brucellosis, Hanta virus, psittacosis) • Indirect infection by exposure to contaminated soil or water (e.g. schistosomiasis, leptospirosis) Page 4 Zoonoses, vector-borne mechanisms of transmission: • Vector-borne diseases (insect borne): – Mosquito-borne infections (arboviruses): Japanese encephalitis, dengue, malari