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Diseases from dogs
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Animal bites: Dogs In the U.S., dogs are responsible for more than two-thirds of domestic animal bites and cause approximately 19 deaths per year. Boys age 5 to 9 years are at the highest risk for injury. King County and state regulations require that animal bites to humans be reported to Public Health. Staff assess the risk of rabies and other infectious diseases and provide advice on medical management. Cats, dogs and ferrets that bite people are placed under rabies quarantine for 10 days; if the animal remains healthy during the quarantine it would not have been carrying rabies virus in its saliva at the time of the bite. Bites to people from wild animals may require administration of post-exposure rabies shots.
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Rabies prevention Rabies is one of the most feared diseases because it is virtually 100% fatal. It is caused by the rabies virus and is usually transmitted by the bite of a rabid animal. While human rabies is rare in the U.S., ranging from one to seven cases a year, rabies is a significant disease worldwide causing 55,000 deaths a year. India, China and Africa have the highest number of cases. Globally, nearly all human cases are contracted from a dog bite, while in the U.S. almost all cases are due to the bite of a rabid bat. In Europe, the U.S. and other developed countries, human rabies is controlled by vaccinating dogs and cats and by administering a series of post-exposure rabies shots to people exposed to a potentially rabid animal. King County regulations require that all dogs be vaccinated against rabies by 4 months of age and immunity maintained by booster vaccinations.
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Leptospirosis Leptospirosis in people: Leptospirosis is a disease caused by bacteria called Leptospira that infect both people and a wide range of animals. It occurs worldwide but is more common in temperate and tropical areas of the world. Some people infected with leptospirosis will have no symptoms at all, and some people will become severely ill. Some wild and domestic animals, such as cattle, pigs, dogs, raccoons, and rodents, carry the Leptospira bacteria and pass them in their urine. Soil or water contaminated with infected urine is the most common route of human infection. In late 2004 King County began to see an increase in leptospirosis in dogs. Between 2004 and 2008, 110 confirmed or probable canine cases with 37 fatalities were reported to the King County Zoonotic Disease Program. A horse and one cat were also reported. Fortunately, no King County residents are known to have become infected during this outbreak. However, people could potentially get the infection from the same environmental sources as dogs (contaminated soil or water), and people in contact with an infected dog could get the disease through exposure to the dog’s urine.
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Toxocara infection (roundworm) Toxocariasis is a disease affecting people caused by parasitic Toxocara roundworms commonly found in the intestine of dogs and cats. Although most people infected with Toxocara have no symptoms, the parasite is capable of causing blindness and other serious illness. It is likely that toxocariasis is under-diagnosed. A recent study showed that transmission of Toxocara is most common in young children and youth and that about 14% of the U.S. population is infected. Children become infected as they tend to play in (and sometimes eat) soil or sand that has been contaminated with dog or cat feces.
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