Role of pet animals and laboratory animals in transmission of zoonotic diseases

ROLE OF PET AND LABORATORY ANIMALS IN TRANSMISSION OF ZOONOTIC DISEASES

  • In addition to dogs, cats and birds, which are the most frequent house pets, rabbits, rodents, fish and turtles are also vertebrate species that commonly share the home environment.
  • Lizards, snakes and ferrets are less common pets. These species can transmit numerous diseases, especially to children who are more likely to be in close contact with them.
  • Although most zoonoses contracted from pets are relatively rare events, clinicians should be aware of any animal exposure, especially in immuno-compromised hosts. Because of the diversity and the large size of the pet population, exposure to animals should be systematically ascertained when examining a patient.

Zoonotic diseases acquired from rabbits

  • Biting is uncommon but rabbits can inflict painful scratches with their rear limbs if improperly restrained.
  • The zoonotic diseases transmitted from rabbits by contact are
    • Pasteurella multocida - Cutaneous infection in humans
    • Yersiniosis
    • Tularemia
    • Yersinia pseudotuberculosis 
    • Fur mite acariosis (Cheyletiella parasitivorax)
    • Dermatophytosis (Trichophyton)
    • Fungal skin infections (Ringworm) - Trichophyton mentagrophytes 

Zoonotic diseases acquired from rodents

  • Rodents, especially mice and rats, are definitively associated with transmission of major fatal diseases to humans, such as plague, typhus and leptospirosis.
  • The albino rat, domestic variety of the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) and the albino domestic mouse (Mus musculus) are kept by many people. However, guinea pigs, hamsters and gerbils are the most common house pets among the rodent group.
  • Contact-transmitted zoonoss from rodents are
    • Guinea pigs: Salmonellosis - Salmonella enteritidis bio typhimurium
    • Mouse (M.musculus): Natural reservoir for Lymphocytic choriorneningitis - LCM virus (an RNA virus of the arenaviridae family) - through contact with infected aerosols, direct animal contact or rodent bites - transmitted among rodents horizontally through secretions (urine, saliva, feces) and vertically the embryos, especially in mice. Infected offspring develop a persistent infection and shed the virus during most of their lifespan.
    • Rats and mice: Dermatophytosis (Tinea favus) – Trichophyton quinckeanum
    • Mice and guinea pigs: Dermatophytosis - T. mentagrophytes 
  • Bite-transmitted zoonoses from rodents
    • Pasteurellosis (P. multocida)
    • Rat-bite fever (Sodoku, Haverhill fever): Rats are healthy carriers of Streptobacillus moniliformis or Spirillum minus in their nasopharynx
    • Tularemia (rabbit fever) (Francisella tularensis)
    • Yersiniosis (Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Yersinia enterocolitica) - Guinea pigs are very commonly infected
    • Campylobacteriosis: Proliferative ileitis, a specific enteric syndrome of hamsters, is probably caused by a strain of Campylobacter spp. Hamsters certainly represent a potential source of human infection.
  • Other diseases from rodents
    • Leptospirosis: L. interrogans serovar ballum – Rats are known to harbor and shed for long period of time various Leptospira interrogans serovars.
    • Haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome or Korean haemorrhagic fever: Rodent-borne viral diseases (Hanta virus)
    • Cestodiosis (tapeworm) (Hymenolepiosis): Hymenolepis nana, the dwarf tapeworm (in hamsters) and Hymenolepis diminuta - Primarily in children - by ingestion of eggs from fecally contaminated fingers or from contaminated food or water.
    • Acariosis: Trixacarus caviae - Guinea pigs

Zoonotic diseases acquired from turtles, lizards, snakes and aquarium fish (Poikilothermic zoonoses)

  • Turtles: Salmonellosis - Salmonella hartford.
  • Salmonella infection can only be acquired from lizards or snakes, frogs or aquarium fish.

Other gastrointestinal bacterial infections from cold-blooded animals

  • Edwardsiella tarda - Goldfish, cat-fish
  • Plesiomonas shigelloides (mouth-rot disease) - Fish
  • Yersinia enterocolitica - Frogs and fish
  • Mycobacteriosis: by aquarium fish - Mycobacterium marinum ( swimming pool granuloma), Mycobacterium fortuitum and Mycobacterium platypolcitis
  • Melioidosis: Burkholderia pseudomallei - Fish
  • Erysipelothrix insidiosa (or rhusiopathiae) – Fish - Skin lesions in man known as "fish rose."
  • Pentostomiosis: Pentastomes (Armillifer sp.) are wormlike arthropods that are almost exclusively parasites of the reptilian respiratory system - Snakes are the definitive hosts - wild rodents, on which snakes feed, are the intermediate hosts - female parasite deposits eggs in the respiratory cavities of the reptiles. The eggs are expectorated or swallowed and then eliminated with the feces - Humans are accidentaI hosts by handling infected reptiles and placing contaminated hands to the mouth.

Zoonotic diseases acquired from ferrets

Table: List of zoonotic diseases acquired from pet rabbits, rodents, lizard, snakes, fish and ferrets

Lab animals

Viral zoonoses

Bacterial zoonoses

Parasitic zoonoses

Mycotic zoonoses

Rabbit

--

  • Cheyletiellosis

Mouse

LCM

  • Tensiosis
    (Hymenilepis nana,
    Hymenilepis diminuta)
  • Giardiosis
  • Cryptosporidosis

Rat

Rabies

  • Tensiosis
    (Hymenilepis nana,
    Hymenilepis diminuta)
  • Sarcoptic mange
    (Trixocarus diversus)

Guinea pig

--

  • Sarcoptic mange
    (Trixocarus caviae)
  • Cryptosporidosis

Hamster

LCM

  • Sarcoptic mange
  • Teniosis (Hymenolepis nana)

Gerbils

--

  • Tensiosis
    (Hymenilepis nana),
  • Cutaneous leishmaniosis

--

Squirrel

Rabies

  • Pasteurellosis
  • Rat bite fever
  • Tularemia
  • Relapsing fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever,
    Plague,
  • Leptospirosis

--

--

Turtle

--

--

--

Lizards, snakes

--

Pentastomiosis

--

Fish

--

  • Mycobacteriosis
  • Erysipelothrix
  • Meliodiosis

--

--

Ferrets

Influenza
Rabies

  • Cryptosporidosis
  • Toxocariosis
  • Giardiosis

Last modified: Saturday, 17 September 2011, 5:17 AM