What are the zoonoses we should look for and how can we prevent them?
The rarest and scariest one is rabies. An average of one person a year dies of rabies in the U.S. and most of those cases are imported from bites that occur outside the country. However a lot of people receive post animal bite treatment. The best insurance against rabies is to have both your dog and cat vaccinated against rabies. The major reservoir of rabies is in wildlife and a cat’s natural hunting instinct can bring it into contact with a rabid animal. A dog living in a fenced yard is less likely to encounter a rabid animal than is a free roaming cat. Trans-larval migrans has come to be of concern lately. Most species of animals have their own variety of ascarids (roundworms) living in their intestines. This is even true of human beings. Roundworms tend to have complicated life cycles that involve moving through the body of their host in their larval stage, until they eventually end up in the intestine. One species’ ascarids are sufficiently unique that they are unable to complete
