How can animals make you sick?
When you spend time around an animal—whether it's a pet, a farm animal, or a wild animal—there's a chance you can pick up an infection. Some infections can seem mild, but others can be quite serious. So it's a good idea to learn about your risks and how to protect yourself and other people. People who are most in need of protection are children under age 5, pregnant women, and people with weak immune systems.
An infection you get from an animal is called a zoonosis (say "zoh-uh-NOH-sus"). You can get a zoonosis from a mammal, a reptile, an amphibian, or a bird. It could be a pet, an animal at a farm or a petting zoo, or a wild animal that passes infection on to you.
Zoonosis may be caused by a bacteria, virus, or fungus, or by a parasite, such as a tapeworm.
It's not just touching an animal that can expose you to an infection. You can get infected when you:
- Touch something that an animal has touched, such as bedding, a kennel, a stall, or your own clothing.
- Touch feces or urine from an animal.
- Are licked, scratched, or bitten by an animal.
- Breathe in dust that carries disease from an animal, as in a barnyard or a mouse nest.
- Handle animal meat. Kitchen and food prep areas can be contaminated by raw meat, such as chicken, beef, or game.
- Drink water from canals, creeks, or lakes. They might be contaminated with animal waste.
- Eat food from infected animals, such as raw milk, cheese, or meat, or eat produce grown in contaminated water.
Preventing infections from animals when you are pregnant
When you're pregnant, be extra careful around animals, foods from animals, and animal waste. Follow these steps to protect your unborn baby from dangerous infections from animals or animal products.
- Wash your hands after you touch an animal or anything that could have been contaminated by an animal.
- Stay clear of possible sources of lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCMV) and toxoplasmosis.
- Do not clean or breathe dust from cat litter boxes, rodent or bird cages, or places where house mice have been. Ask someone else to do the cleaning. If you have to clean, wear gloves and a face mask.
- Disinfect food prep and eating areas that a cat, bird, or rodent may have walked on.
- Ask your doctor if there are any other local types of infection you should protect against during pregnancy.
Go to the Centers for Disease Control site at http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets to learn more about infections from animals.
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