By Judith Chepchumba
ZOONOTIC DISEASES ARE diseases that can spread between animals and people.They are mainly spread through milk, manure,blood, fluids from either the nose or mouth and aborted fetuses.
In some instances, they can be spread through air or animal bites and scratches, drinking raw milk, or eating contaminated food. The most common zoonotic diseases are as follows:
- Rabies
Rabies is spread by contact with the saliva of an infected animal, most commonly a bite from an infected dog.
Signs in animals
Aggressiveness, excessive salivation, biting imaginary objects, weakness and difficulty breathing.
Signs in people
Agitation, headache, discomfort, weakness and hallucinations.
Treatment
Once clinical signs have been displayed, death is the most common outcome. However, the disease can be prevented by vaccinating animals and seeking medical attention as soon as possible after being bitten by a dog.
- Anthrax
Anthrax is spread by breathing in or eating anthrax spores from the soil, water or plants. It can also be spread by consuming meat or milk from an infected animal.
Signs in animals
Animals will often be found dead with blood oozing from all body openings, e.g. nose, mouth, anus or vulva, and the blood does not clot.
Signs in people
Blisters on the skin, vomiting, diarrhoea and coughing blood.
Prevention
Vaccination of livestock. Avoiding direct contact with dead animals with anthrax. Anthrax carcasses should be buried deeply(2 meters). People should not drink milk or eat meat from sick or dead animals.
- Rift Valley Fever
It is mostly spread through mosquito bites or contact with infected animals. It occurs mainly in areas with flooding.Humans get infected by touching fl uids or eating meat or milk from infected animals.
Signs in animals
Abortions, fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, running nose and weakness.
Signs in people
Mild illness is characterized by fever and weakness. It can sometimes lead to severe infection of the brain and eyes and abnormal bleeding, leading to death.
Treatment
Most animals and people recover on their own.
Prevention
Vaccination of livestock, insect control and avoiding contact with infected animals. Milk should be boiled and meat cooked well.
- Brucellosis
Brucellosis is spread to humans from bacteria in raw milk or undercooked meat. It can also be transmitted through a skin wound coming with abortion fluid/fetus of infected animals. Animals get infected from the semen of an infected bull during natural mating.
Signs in animals
Abortions, poor fertility, low weight gain, poor milk production and swollen joints.
Signs in people
Weaknesses, fever, muscle and joint pain. Abortions in women and testicular pain in men.
Treatment
Once affected, animals become carriers for life hence, all infected animals should be culled by being slaughtered and buried. For humans, medicine is available.
Prevention
Use of artificial insemination for breeding. Boiling or pasteurizing milk before drinking and wearing protective clothing when handling abortions in animals.
5.Trypanosomiasis/Nagana/Sleeping sickness
This spreads through bites from parasite-infected tsetse flies.
Signs in animals
Anaemia, chronic weight loss, enlarged lymph nodes, recurrent fever, low fertility and weakness.
Signs in people
Headache, fever, swollen lymph nodes, joint pain, sleep disorders, seizures, coma and an open wound at the site of the fly bite.
Treatment
Treatment is only successful in the early stages of the disease.
Prevention
No vaccine is available, so insect control and treatment of animals in endemic areas are the only ways of prevention.Insecticides are often used on animals to control the flies..
6. Bovine Tuberculosis
Humans contract this disease by breathing in the aerosols of infected animals, eating contaminated meat, drinking raw milk or contact with infected blood in case of an open wound.
Signs in animals
Clinical signs develop with time characterized by extreme weight loss, persistent cough with blood, swollen lymph nodes, loss of appetite and eventually death.
Signs in people
Fever, sweating at night, weight loss, bloody coughing and diarrhoea.
Treatment
Infected animals should be slaughtered and buried since treatment is expensive and doesn’t cure animals. Treatment for people is available.
Prevention
Drinking boiled or pasteurized milk and eating meat that has been inspected by veterinarians. No vaccine is available for TB.