Are there any illnesses my dog can give me?

Question

Lauren Adelman · Answer

Are there any illnesses that my dog can give me? So the answer to this question is yes. So these are what we call zoonotic or zoonotic diseases, diseases that can be passed from animal to human. There are also some that go the other way. You can give your dog certain diseases and there's a whole slew of these. You know, every category really has some. Skin issues, things like ringworm can be passed, certain infections. We can talk about gastrointestinal illness. So there are certain bacteria or viruses that your dog can get that can cause vomiting and diarrhea that can then be transferred to you through fecal-oral contamination. There are also certain tick-borne diseases or infectious diseases like leptospirosis, which can be transferred from dog to human. And so a lot of these diseases would be diagnosed by your veterinarian and they would tell you, likely, that these are zoonotic. The other thing to keep in mind is that some people who are more immunocompromised, like the elderly or the pregnant, may be more susceptible to infections from pets compared to the general public. And so it's important to make sure that you let your veterinarian know if you fall into an immunosuppressed category so that they can alert you of precautions to take.

Elizabeth Thompson · Answer

The question is, are there any illnesses that my dog can give me? There are some things. The things I think most commonly would be via fecal-oral transmission like gastrointestinal parasites or gastrointestinal diseases in general. So if your dog is exhibiting any diarrhea, vomiting, and potentially has worms or GI parasites, I would make sure to wash your hands very frequently before eating or touching your face or mouth. There are some things that can be transmitted in that way. And then the other thing to consider is whether or not you yourself are immune compromised, whether it be diabetes or immune-mediated diseases of any kind, or if you're on steroids or immunosuppressive medications, that can also make it such that general bacteria on your dog's skin can create wounds if you have a break in your skin. So if you have a cut or a small wound, you can get an infection if you're immune compromised by flora on your dog's skin, or some dogs can get skin infections with antibiotic-resistant staph that can also be transmitted to people, particularly if you are immune compromised. So those would be the big things I think about. Most other diseases in dogs are not communicable or transmitted between the dog and the person.

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"Are there any illnesses my dog can give me?"