Tuberculosis
More information coming soon, but apparently, tuberculosis which used to be a major disease before we nearly eradicated it with testing of our food animals is making a small come back in the form of a strain carried by Guinea Pigs and Prairie Dogs. I apologize, but I'm not sure of how accurate this information is...I'll try to find out soon. If you are considering a Prairie Dog as a pet, another reason we are discouraging it is that the fleas on prairie dogs can carry Plague and several cases in the Western United States in people have been reported.
Brucellosis: Brucellosis, like tubercolosis used to be a terrible disease spread to people through our food animals but is now well controlled in this country. Dogs, however, carry a strain of brucella that causes abortions in dogs and possibly could be transmitted to susceptible people. I think this is a very rare problem. We have a test for dogs that we encourage dog breeders to use prior to breeding to prevent the spread of this disease among dogs. More info coming soon
Plague from Prairie Dogs: The fleas on prairie dogs might carry the terrible disease known as plaque. If you insist on getting a prairie dog, make sure it's been given a good bath and is not carrying any fleas. To be sure, put on some revolution or frontline. This is the same disease that killed millions in historical outbreaks, but in those cases the culprits were the fleas on rats.
Samonella and E-Coli from Turtles and Reptiles:
The germs samonella and e-coli are found in the feces of many animals and humans too. These are two of the germs notorious for causing food poisoning involving transmission from one human to another and have nothing to do with turtles.
However, it seems that turtles and reptiles can carry an especially bad strain of these two germs and could cause serious, maybe deadly, dysentery in people...especially children. It's one of the reasons most vets discourage pet turtles for children. The other reason is to prevent neglect and cruelty to these creatures.
Pasteurella from Rabbits:
When rabbits get respiratory disease and/or eye infections (a disease known as "snuffles"), the germ involved is sometimes a strain of pasteurella that can cause significant disease in humans to include pneumonia and blindness.
Wash your hands well after handling sickly rabbits and take such pets to your vet. for treatment.
Encephalitis from horses:
There are several types of encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) caused by different strains of a virus that affects horses (and other equine) and pheasants. Man, horses, and pheasants are accidental hosts...the true reservoir of this disease is wild fowl...both resident and migratory. The disease is spread by mosquito. The disease is often fatal, so while we can't eliminate this disease entirely we can and should be vaccinating all horses. For humans there is only being careful around mosquitoes. Our government disease control people and equine veterinarians keep a tight lid on this disease in the U.S. Dogs and cats are not part of the problem but I thought you should know about this disease and the importance of vaccinations if you have horses.
Cryptosporidium: This is a little protozoa that causes diarrhea in dogs and cats and is potentially contagious to humans. If this is true, the disease is usually mild and self limiting in humans. One expert lecturer indicated that he thought we humans might be exposed to this organism more than we realized...it's just hard to diagnose and the symptoms aren't usually bad enough to see a doctor about...we just feel lousy for a day or two. Accurate?
