Pets pose disease risks to humans: Report
Posted November 29, 2012 4:32 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning that Fido and Fluffy can pose a disease risk to their human companions.
Research has discovered that the dogs and cats which share our home have the potential to act as sources for a wide spectrum of infections, as 75 per cent of newly-reported human infections jump from animals in the wild.
The report is calling for a surveillance system to monitor household pets for diseases.
Toronto-based infectious disease expert Dr. Donald Low told the Toronto Star he is not aware of a specific case where pets have been the source of a major pandemic, but it’s not impossible.
While he supports the idea of an international surveillance system for dogs and cats, at the same time, he is not sure how practical that would be.
Regardless of the facts, experts say the benefits of having pets far outweigh the risks.
