Glossary for Zoonotic Diseases

• Alveolar Hydatid Disease: Rare multi-organ tapeworm infection caught from animals.
• Anthrax: A serious infectious bacterial disease that can be fatal.
• Babesiosis: A parastic infection by a particular protozoa (Babesia) which is transmitted through tick bites. The disease produces symptoms similar to malaria.
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy: This is a medical condition caused by the transmission of an infective prion causing an encephalopathy
• Brucellosis: An infectious disease caused by the Brucella genus which is transmitted from animals to humans.
• Cat bite: Bite from a cat.
• Cat scratch disease: An infectious disease transmitted through a cat's bite, scratch or lick and resulting primarily in lymph node pain and swelling. The condition can be mild or severe.
• Chronic wasting disease (CWD) of mule deer and elk: Prion brain disease affecting deer or elk but not humans
• Cryptosporiosis: Contagious parasitic digestive infection
• Diseases contagious from animals: Diseases that can be contracted from animals
• Dog bite: A bite that is caused by a dog
• Eastern equine encephalitis: Is a mosquito born virus that occurs in the eastern united states and causes disease in humans, horses and some birds
• Fascioliasis: A rare parastitic infectious disease caused by liver fluke Fasciola hepatica which can cause blockage of the bile ducts in the liver.
• Feline spongiform encephalopathy: A prion disease believed to affect felines in a similar fashion to bovine spongiform encephalitis
• Flea-borne diseases: Diseases that are carried by fleas
• Giardia: Contagious parasitic digestive infection
• Hantavirus: A genus of viruses from the family Bunyaviridae
• Histoplasmosis: Lung infection from fungus Histoplasma capsulatum
• Insect-borne diseases: Any disease that is carried by insects and transmitted to humans
• Leptospirosis: Bacterial infection usually caught from animal urine.
• Lice: A parasitic insect that can infect humans
• Listeriosis: Bacterial food poisoning
• Louse-borne diseases: Diseases that are carried by the louse and contracted by humans
• Mite conditions: Any condition that is caused by the mite
• Mosquito-borne diseases: Diseases that are carried by the mosquito
• Orf: Viral skin infection related to sheep and goats
• Psittacosis: An infectious disease caused by Chlamydia psittaci and transmitted mainly by infected birds but also by some mammals.
• Q fever: A disease caused by Coxiella burnetti which causes fever, headache and muscle pain.
• Rabies: An infectious disease that can affect any mammal including humans and is transmitted through the saliva of an infected animal. The infectious agent is the Neurotropic lyssavirus which affects the salivary gland and also causes neurological symptoms.
• Rodent-borne disease: Any disease that is carried by rodents
• Salmonella food poisoning: Common type of food poisoning.
• Tick-borne diseases: Any disease that is transferred to humans by the tick
• Toxocariasis: A parasitic roundworm (Toxocara canis or Toxocara cati) infection that normally occurs in cats and dogs but can be transmitted to humans by ingesting the larvae or eggs. The infection may be asymptomatic or severe and symptoms depend on where the larvae travel to when they migrate through the body.
• Toxoplasmosis: Infection often caught from cats and their feces.
• Transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME): Prion brain disease affecting mink but not humans.
• Trichinosis: Worm infection usually caught from pigs
• Western equine encephalitis: An infectious disease caused by an arbovirus (Alphavirus - Togaviraidae) and transmitted by infected mosquitoes. The infection primarily attacks that central nervous system and severity can range from asymptomatic to severe complications and even death in rare cases.