Our pets can contract a wide variety of bacterial infections as they move through the world. Many of these bacterial infections can be passed to humans through contact with urine or feces, saliva, or the coat of an infected animal. Staphylococcus is the most likely bacterium to cause a skin infection in humans.
Can infections spread from animals to humans?
Disease Transmitted from Animals to Humans. A zoonosis (zoonotic disease or zoonoses -plural) is an infectious disease that is transmitted between species from animals to humans (or from humans to animals).
Can you get a bacterial infection from an animal?
But illnesses common among house pets — such as distemper, canine parvovirus, and heartworms — can't spread to people. But some types of bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi that pets can carry can make people sick though a bite or scratch, or if someone has contact with an animal's waste, saliva, or dander.
Which skin condition can be transmitted between animals?
FUNGAL INFECTIONS After parasitic infections, fungal skin infections (cutaneous dermatophytosis, or ringworm) from contact with cats and dogs are probably the most common pet-associated diseases, causing an estimated 2 million or more infections each year.
Can cats cause skin infections in humans?
Scabies, or infection by the mange mite Sarcoptes scabiei, is another zoonotic external parasite of the skin of cats. While not as common as flea infestations, these mites can be passed from infected cats to people, where they burrow into the skin and cause itchy, raised lesions.
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