Pets could spread disease to their owners

You may want to think twice before sharing his bed with Fido or Silvestre. According to a report published in the February issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases Public Health, apparently healthy pets have parasites, bacteria or viruses that cause diseases ranging from mild to potentially fatal in humans.

Of the 250 zoonotic diseases, infections transmitted between animals and people, over one hundred are derived from domestic animals, said Dr. Bruno Chomel, a veterinarian, author and a professor of zoonoses at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California at Davis. Although the spread of disease is low compared to how many people sleep with their pets, more than half of all pet owners in the U.S..

UU., Chomel said risks remain. "Having a pet in the bed is not good idea," he said. In one case, a 69 year old man whose dog was sleeping under the covers with him and licked his injured hip replacement surgery, acquired meningitis. In another incident he was involved a nine year acquired fever, a potentially fatal bacterial disease by sleeping with your cat infested with fleas.

According to the report, among other infections to people after sleeping with your dog or cat, licking kiss or receivable, are the anquilosotoma, ringworm, nematodes, the cat scratch disease and staph infections drug resistant. Although people need to keep in mind that you may get sick from a pet, the health benefits of having a far outweighs the risk, said Dr.

Peter Rabonowitz faculty of medicine at Yale and a coauthor of Human book Animal Medicine. Clinical Approaches to Zoonoses, toxicants and Other Shared Health Risks (clinical methods for zoonosis, toxic substances and other risk-sharing for health in human and animal). Research has shown that, in addition to providing psychological support and friendship, pets help lower blood pressure, increased physical activity, reduce stress and improve mood, among other things.

However, he said, people whose immune systems are weakened are at greater risk of acquiring an infection from an animal. These include the elderly, children under five years, patients with HIV / AIDS and cancer patients. Owners can stay healthy with proper hygiene habits like washing hands with soap and hot water after playing with pets, especially puppies, kittens or any old dog or cat with diarrhea.

These "high-risk pets," he said, are more likely to have an infection that could be transmitted to humans. In addition, immediately wash any areas that have licked a pet. The report recommends that to prevent and detect disease early, keep your pets free of fleas, ticks and worms and have them inspected regularly by a veterinarian.

The authors also discourage owners kiss their dogs or drops, and to share the bed with them. Because the majority of zoonotic diseases are not diagnosed enough or is not required to report them to health authorities, Rabinowitz said that no one knows exactly how many cases there are each year.

However, suspects who get several million infections among pet and people annually in the U.S.. UU., From self-limiting skin conditions to life-threatening systemic diseases. "We believe that many infections are likely to arise and no one really discovers that arise from the pet," said Rabonowitz, program director of Project Animal and Human Medicine at Yale.

In recent years, an initiative known as "One Health", whose supporters include the American Medical Association, American Nurses Association and the American Association of Veterinary Medicine, have called for better communication and collaboration between physicians and veterinarians. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly sixty percent of all human pathogens are zoonotic.

This week, the president of the American Medical Association spoke at a veterinary conference in Orlando, Florida and spoke about the importance of unifying health professionals. "Not only infected animals to people, it seems that people can also infect animals," said Rabinowitz, who cited a case in which a domestic cat contracted the H1N1 virus from the owner.

"It's a two-way affair."

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