Tick Borne Diseases Transmitted to Humans
Dogs and cats and other pets can carry ticks into your life that might be carrying one of the several tick borne diseases:
Lyme's Disease
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Rickettsial diseases
Tick paralysis
These diseases are often successfully fought off by our immune systems but may be another reason why we sometimes get unexplained fevers, aches and pains for a couple of days.
But sometimes these diseases can cause terrible illness in both you and your pets.
The main thing is to prevent your pet from being infested with ticks; avoid keeping your pet in tick infested areas, groom your pets, remove ticks as needed, and take advantage of the better tick control products.
There is an effective Lymes vaccine available for dogs and it's recommended for those dogs living in the North East
Fleas
Fleas themselves are not a disease, but pets bring fleas into your home and can then transmit blood borne diseases from one human to another. Hepatitis? Aids? Not likely, but possible...so keep fleas and ticks and mosquitoes under control as best as you can. They can transmit plaque and monkey pox from Prairie Dogs. Click here to go to our main page about fleas
Lice and Mites
The lice and mites that pets get can sometimes cause a rash or allergic reaction on humans but rarely cause an infestation...most lice and mites affect only one species of animal. This is known as being species specific.
But, for the comfort of your pet and just to be sure, keep your pet clean and groomed and if it's obvious something is wrong with your pet's skin, see your veterinarian.
Mosquitos
Mosquitos are flying syringes able to transmit diseases from animal to animal and animal to people and people to people. And mosquitos can fly several miles!
Examples include
Malaria
Yellow Fever
Dengue Fever
Rift Valley Fever
Multiple types of Encephalitis to include Eastern Equine Encephalitis which is a problem in the U.S.
