What kinds of infectious diseases do animals spread?
Rats and other rodents are notorious carriers of disease, such as plague, letospirosis, typhus, and now hantavirus infection. Hantavirus has been linked to infected rodents in more than a dozen states. Farm animals spread salmonellosis and E. coli 0157:H7 infection. Even household pets can be sources of infectious disease hazards. Dogs and cats are reservoirs for hookworm disease. Kittens and puppies spread intestinal roundworms to children who ingest soil contaminated by animal feces. Minor scratches or bites from a cat carry a risk of cat scratch disease. Lizards, pet turtles, and other reptiles are frequent transmitters of salmonella. Perhaps the most feared animal-borne disease threat is rabies. Unvaccinated dogs and cats can acquire rabies from infected wild mammals, such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, and bats. Each year more than 4,000 animals–most of them wild–are diagnosed with rabies in the United States. The disease is endemic in wild mammals in all states except Hawaii, and
