The groups of diseases that are transmitted to humans after contact with animals have the medical name zoonosis. Some people are almost never faced with, so there is a high probability that doctors have not found many more diseases.
As they say, is aware - means armed. We present you 10 diseases of people that were originally transmitted to us from domestic or wild animals.
10. Rabies
In the first place comes the disease with sad mortality statistics. Rabies virus enters the human body through a bite or wound received from a sick animal. The highest concentration of the pathogen is found in saliva, and only then in the blood of a mammal. The incubation period of the disease is unpredictable, and sometimes it is completely asymptomatic. Meanwhile, the virus enters the human brain, leading to a destructive and irreversible effect on the nervous system. With brain dysfunction, the control of the musculoskeletal system and respiratory system is disrupted, resulting in the death of a person. Treatment according to the Milwaukee protocol allows you to overcome the disease in 8% of cases even at the time of the onset of symptoms, although for this patient they are sent to an artificial coma and stuffed with significant doses of antiviral drugs.
9. Cat scratch fever
As it turned out, harmless domestic purses can inadvertently turn out to be carriers of the bacterium that provokes the disease. Through a bite or scratch, the pathogen enters the human body, causing swelling and redness of the affected area, swelling of the lymph nodes, and even the appearance of a rash after 1-2 (up to 8) weeks. Often, the immune system independently cope with a fever, which does not require medical treatment. But people with weakened immunity (including children and elderly patients) need antibiotic therapy, otherwise a complication of the disease to pneumonia and even coma is possible.
8. Ornithosis
The virus enters humans from wild and domestic birds. Normally, at a heating temperature of about 70 ° C, he dies within 15 minutes, which makes it possible to accidentally eat a sick bird for food without consequences. But at low temperatures, the pathogen remains active for up to 60 days, and it is also resistant to drying. The disease affects about 100 species of birds, including geese, ducks, chickens, pheasants, parrots and pigeons. A person is infected mainly through the air and food of a sick bird, as well as during post-slaughter processing (cutting, plucking, etc.). The disease manifests itself with symptoms of pneumonia: weakness and lethargy, difficulty breathing, plugs on the nasopharynx, loss of appetite, etc.
7. Trichinosis
The causative agent of the disease is a round helminth larva. It enters the human body through the digestive system (eating trichinosis meat). After 2-3 days, the larvae reach sexually mature forms and begin to multiply actively, clogging the lymphatic system of the gastrointestinal mucosa. Also, larvae are found in the bloodstream, muscle fiber. The disease is manifested by aches and sharp pains in the muscles, increased swelling of the face, persistent eosinophilia in blood tests.
6. Toxocariasis
The disease is transmitted to humans as a result of direct contact with the feces of infected wild (fox) and domestic (dogs, cats) animals. Toxocariasis is a parasite that lays eggs in the body of the carrier. They can hibernate for a couple of years, after which the larvae hatch and reach the gastrointestinal tract. The patient notes the symptoms characteristic of the disease: cough, colic and bloating, persistent headache, hyperthermia. If toxocariasis has reached the wearer's eye, then visual impairment and inflammation of the area are possible, and in advanced cases complete blindness occurs.
5. Visceral leishmaniasis
The disease is caused by a parasite that a female mosquito carries through a bite. Similar species of mosquitoes live in the temperate regions of the planet and the tropics. Every year, up to 500 thousand people become infected with this form of leishmaniasis, while 50 thousand die. This human parasite is one of the most dangerous in history after the sensational malaria. In the absence of competent treatment, mortality from the disease is one hundred percent. Symptoms resemble malaria: febrile temperature indicators, lethargy and weakness, anemia, an increase and change in the structure of internal organs (spleen, liver). Also, the surface of the skin may darken in patients, characteristic ulcerations appear. In a neglected form, the parasite attacks the immune system and weakens it, making it unstable to other dangerous diseases, for example, pneumonia.
4. MERS
This "young" disease was first diagnosed in Saudi Arabia 6 years ago. The carrier of the virus turned out to be a bat - a burial sacred. The causative agent enters the human body not through direct contact with a sick bat, but through an intermediate carrier, which is most often domestic and industrial animals. According to statistics from 4 years ago, outbreaks of the disease were diagnosed in 22 countries. Nevertheless, almost all cases were directly or indirectly related to Saudi Arabia.
3. Tularemia
The disease is characteristic of the continent of North America. It is caused by a bacterium that is transmitted from the rabbit to humans through intermediate parasites (lice, ticks). The pathogen also enters the body after contact with the bodies of infected animals, through infected products and water from a drinking bowl. The incubation period is about 3-5 days, after which symptoms develop: febrile temperature, diarrhea, headaches, fever, arthritis, swelling of the lymph nodes and mucous membranes of the eyes, expressions on the skin and oral cavity, lethargy, etc. Acute course of the disease in the absence adequate antibiotic therapy leads to the death of the patient. Basically, a person dies from dehydration, respiratory failure, which leads to pneumonia or suffocation.
2. Q fever
One of the most infectious strains of bacteria, since theoretically the 1st colony will be enough to infect humanity. The causative agent is transmitted by wild and domestic animals, as well as other people (mainly through sexual contact). A bacterium can be obtained from an animal as a result of contact with any biological fluids (milk, saliva, sperm, excrement, etc.). The first symptoms appear within 3 weeks: hyperthermia, headaches, sweating, fever, photophobia. In the absence of treatment with strong antibiotics, such complications of the disease like hepatitis and pneumonia.Therapy usually takes from several months to a couple of years, because in order to prevent relapse it is necessary to kill every single bacterium.
1. Toxoplasmosis
The simplest microorganism enters the human body after contact with a pet (cat, dog). The animal picks up the pathogen from the infected meat. Symptoms of the disease, as a rule, are erased, which complicates its timely treatment. In the body, tissue cysts form, which settle in healthy cells, striated muscles, and even the brain. A pregnant woman can transmit the pathogen to the fetus, which after birth can develop jaundice, thrombocytopenia, maculopapular rash, lymphadenopathy, hydrocephalus, deafness, convulsive syndrome, etc.
Despite the rarity of such diseases, hundreds and even thousands of patients enter clinics. Some of the zoonoses are easily treatable and involve the introduction of special serums, while others quickly lead to death. Use caution when dealing with pets and wild animals.