From Animals to Humans: 7 of the Weirdest Zoonotic Diseases

Did you know that sick animals can make you sick too?

We’re not talking about when your dog has a cough or your cat throws up on the rug. It’s pretty impossible to catch a cold or the stomach flu from your pet.

But some animals do carry harmful germs that cause illness in people too. These are called zoonotic diseases.

These diseases can be viral, bacterial, parasitic, and even fungal.

They can cause different types of illnesses in animals and people that range from mild to serious. In rare cases, they can even cause death.

So How Do People Get Zoonotic Diseases?

In some cases, it’s a matter of not being careful – perhaps handling an animal that is noticeably ill, for example.

Still, animals can appear to be completely healthy even when they’re carrying germs or parasites that can make you sick.

We’ll give you the low-down on seven different zoonotic diseases and how you can avoid them.

1. Pahvant Vally Plague

We’re coming out of the gates with the big guns on this one.

Frequently, insects are the culprit in transmitting diseases to humans from animals. That’s why it’s so important to avoid mosquitoes and know how to get rid of ticks if you come into contact with them. You can read more here. 

Native only to North America, Pahvant Vally Plague is a bacterial disease that’s usually transmitted from rabbits to humans via ticks and lice. But handling infected rabbit corpses can also transmit it.

It typically takes three to five days before feeling symptoms, but those who are infected often experience a rapid onset of debilitating symptoms, including high fever, extreme weakness, severe headache, diarrhea, lethargy, arthritis, chills, swollen lymph nodes, and ulcers in the mouth or on the skin.

You don’t want to mess around with Pahvent Vally Plague. It’s considered a medical emergency and requires immediate treatment with antibiotics to avoid severe illness or death.

2. Barmah Forest Virus

Far less serious than Pahvent Vally Plague, barmah forest virus is a non-fatal mosquito-borne pathogen.

And it’s only in Australia.

Most people who contract this virus don’t demonstrate any symptoms. But for those who do, they experience a mild fever, lethargy, headache, rashes and painful arthritis and swelling, especially around the wrists and ankles.

Symptoms typically resolve themselves after a few weeks.

3. Psittacosis

If you favor birds as pets, then you need to know about psittacosis. Known alternately as ornithosis or parrot fever, this bacterial disease most often affects birds that have been in contact with other birds that have it.

Many birds show no signs of the illness, so it can make it difficult to know if a bird is infected. So it’s best to keep your birds away from other birds you don’t know.

Humans contract the disease through contact with feathers, secretions, and droppings.

In humans, psittacosis can cause reproductive problems such as miscarriages and inflamed placentas. It’s also connected with respiratory problems such as pneumonia, coughing, and trouble breathing. 

4. Bang’s Disease

Bang’s Disease occurs worldwide and is a bacterial disease most often contracted by consuming unsterilized or contaminated milk or meat from infected cattle, goats, sheep or pigs.

In rarer cases, it can also be contracted if an open cut comes into contact with any bodily fluids of an infected animal.

It takes about one month for symptoms to appear in humans and can include fever, headache, fatigue, and back and joint pain. In pregnant women, it can cause miscarriages or birth defects.

Medical treatment is strongly recommended for Bang’s Disease because if left untreated, it could lead to lasting symptoms like those in chronic fatigue syndrome. In severe cases, it could lead to heart infection and liver abscess — both of which can be fatal.

5. Rabies

It’s unusual to find someone who hasn’t heard of rabies. 

That’s largely because it’s such a deadly disease. And it is easily contracted through the bite of an infected animal such as a raccoon, squirrel, or dog.

Humans infected with rabies experience destructive neurological symptoms, brain dysfunction, and eventual death. What’s worse: there’s no way to know when these symptoms will begin.

There are now vaccines for rabies that have spared many people this horrific death. And for unvaccinated patients, there is a procedure called Milwaukee protocol whereby a patient with rabies is forcibly put into a drug-induced coma and provided with high doses of antivirals.

Nobody understands exactly why this works. But it’s believed that shutting down large portions of the brain prevents brain dysfunction, and also provides more time for an individual’s immune system to fight the virus.

6. Toxocariasis

Toxocariasis is an infection caused by the parasitic roundworms commonly found in the intestines of dogs and cats.

Humans who come into contact with the infected feces of dogs and cats can pick up the parasite whose eggs can remain dormant for up to two years before usually hatching in the intestines.

Symptoms in humans are moderate headaches, coughs, and stomach cramps. If the parasite decides to move to other organs, there may be a high fever as well. And in rare cases, there may be an infection to the eyes which can result in irritation, blurred vision, and, if left untreated, the possibility of blindness.

7. Cat Scratch Disease

Have you ever had a little cat scratch fever?

Also known as cat scratch disease, this is a bacterial infection that’s transmitted through a scratch or bite from a cat. Cats do not suffer from this disease. They’re simply carriers of the bacteria.

Symptoms manifest in humans as pain and swelling in the area of the bite or scratch, as well as papules and possible swelling of lymph nodes. These typically appear within one to two weeks of the infection but can take up to eight weeks to appear. 

Except in cases with young children or those with compromised immune systems, the majority of cases resolve themselves over time and do not require medical treatment.

Keep on Loving Those Animals

Unless you’re regularly handling sick animals or are exposing yourself to a wealth of mosquitoes, ticks, and other parasite-carrying insects, you probably don’t need to worry too much about zoonotic diseases.

So go snuggle with your dog, cat, rabbit, iguana, or whatever. And for more animal weirdness, check out our article on unique animals you’ll only find in the Galapagos.

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