What can you get infected with from a dog?

A person, as a part of nature, always strives to be closer to it. Maybe that is why in every second home you can find a cat or a dog, a hamster or a rabbit. Pets are becoming an important part of our lives. And a dog is also a loyal, reliable friend, which is hard to find among people. But dog friendship, alas, is not always as safe as it seems. And the point is not even that a dog can bite in a fit of anger, but that it can infect the owner or another person with one of the dangerous diseases that it can carry. Therefore, before getting a pet, you need to inquire not only about how to care for it, but also the question of what you can get infected from a dog?

Man and dog

Diseases transmitted to humans from animals have a common name - zooanthroposes. There are about 30 such diseases in total. And in most cases, the culprits of human disease are cats and dogs, both street and domestic.

It turns out that having a pet, you always need to be on guard, regularly visit the vet, do the necessary vaccinations that will protect not only the animal itself, but also the owner. It is clear that with yard dogs everything is much more complicated. Our humanity does not allow us to take the life of a living creature, but there is not always someone to take care of it, treat, bathe, vaccinate. So it turns out that by petting a homeless dog somewhere on the street, you can catch a bunch of diseases that will become a lesson for life.

But not always a dog wags its tail and expects affection from a person. There are aggressive animals, and the reason for their aggression is often hidden in the person himself. It may well happen that the dog was offended by one person, and another suffered from his teeth. There are simply aggressive breeds that do not even need to be offended for them to show their "insides". Animals can also be aggressive during estrus.

A healthy trained animal is unlikely to harm a person, unless, of course, it was trained for other purposes. But the behavior of an unhealthy dog can be unpredictable. But what kind of illness made the dog so restless and how dangerous it is for a person is not always easy to determine by eye.

The conclusion is this: you need to be careful and know what you can get infected with from a dog, so that, if not to prevent infection, then at least to know how to behave in case of suspicious symptoms. This information will be useful for women and men, old people and children, because no one is immune, for example, from a bite of a sick dog. And we will try to consider the most common zooanthroposes and answer questions that concern our readers.

What diseases can you catch from a dog?

Before we start to get acquainted with the diseases that a domestic or street pet can give us, let's talk about whether it is worth blaming the dog. Even we, humans, the most intelligent creatures living on the planet, do not always take care of our health, despite the fact that we have every opportunity to prevent the development of the vast majority of diseases. But dogs do not have such an opportunity, unless a person takes care and vaccinates the pet in advance. After all, a dog does not even know what danger it can bring to someone who considers it a best friend. Therefore, you should not blame the animal, you should think about your behavior and attitude towards it, and, of course, about what you can get infected from a dog if you do not take precautions.

But this is all lyricism, let's get back to reality. And it is such that animals can be carriers of the same types of pathologies that people suffer from. These are infectious, parasitic and fungal diseases. In turn, infectious pathologies can be both bacterial and viral.

Bacteria and viruses

Oh, these microscopic microorganisms are capable of knocking down both humans and animals, causing the most dangerous disturbances in the body. True, not all bacteria and viruses are capable of migrating between humans and animals, and it is not always advisable for them to change their place of residence (the conditions are unsuitable). Let's consider several popular examples of when a "dog" disease is transmitted (or not transmitted) to humans, as well as questions concerning purely human viruses.

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Bacterial pathologies

The very name "bacterial diseases" indicates that the causative agent of the disease is a certain bacterium, a pathogenic microorganism. This means that the question of what can you get infected with from a dog can be answered with confidence: bacteria. Let's try to figure out which bacteria are dangerous for both dogs and humans.

• Leptospira are bacteria from the genus of spirochetes. They cause such a dangerous disease of animals and people as leptospirosis. This disease can be called in different ways: dog fever, infectious jaundice, Vasiliev-Weil disease, etc. But the meaning remains the same: under the influence of leptospira, the animal develops a fever, the skin turns yellow, appetite disappears, weakness and apathy appear. If the disease is acute or lightning fast, the animal most often dies. But the disease can also be chronic, and some dogs can be carriers of the infection for 3 years.

Leptospira can be found in urine, feces, milk, sperm, nasal and genital discharge, as well as in exhaled air, which means they can easily get onto any surface that a person comes into contact with, or into water. They enter the human body through any damage to the skin: wounds, scratches, bites, etc. The incubation period of leptospirosis ranges from 2 to 4.5 weeks.

In humans, the disease also manifests itself as chills, a rise in temperature to 40 ^° C, headaches and muscle pain, redness and swelling of the face, skin rashes, urinary retention, a drop in blood pressure, etc.

If the disease is not treated, it causes dangerous complications: severe liver and kidney diseases with impaired function, inflammation of the meninges and brain (meningitis and encephalitis), inflammation of the iris (iritis), etc.

• Listeria is a gram-positive bacillus that thrives in the external environment and is not afraid of cold, continuing to actively reproduce even in a refrigerator. It is considered the causative agent of listeriosis, a disease of animals and humans.

In animals, the disease manifests itself as apathy, which after 3-7 days is replaced by uncontrolled aggression. Depending on the form of the disease, the symptoms may vary: paresis of the limbs, convulsive syndrome, fever, development of mastitis in bitches, etc. If the central nervous system is affected, the animal dies.

Listeria is also found in any physiological secretions of sick animals and carriers of the infection. Thus, the source of infection can be both the dog itself and everything it comes into contact with. The incubation period can be from 7 days to 1 month.

In humans, listeriosis manifests itself as diarrhea, nausea with bouts of vomiting, and sometimes an increase in temperature, which is similar to the course of many gastrointestinal pathologies.

The disease can occur in various forms and has dangerous complications: meningitis, encephalitis, myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), arthritis, osteomyelitis, pneumonia. We are talking about inflammatory processes affecting the brain, heart, joints, bones, lungs.

• Staphylococci are gram-positive bacteria that can cause various inflammatory pathologies in both animals and humans. In animals, staphylococcal infection develops mainly against the background of other pathologies that are accompanied by itching of the skin (dermatitis). The dog begins to scratch actively, tears the skin, where the infection gets in, which can be found literally everywhere. Suppurations form at the site of the wounds.

The answer to the question of whether it is possible to get staphylococcus from a dog is yes. But, alas, much more often people get the bacteria as a reward not from animals, but from contact with dirty objects through unwashed hands or airborne droplets. Wounds on the skin or mucous membranes are also a risk factor.

Most often, children or elderly people, as well as those with a severely weakened immune system, become infected from animals.

You can become infected with a bacterial disease from a dog through friendly contact with the animal itself, through a bite with damage to the skin, through contact with infected surfaces, but again, provided that there was a wound on the skin at the point of contact. It is possible for a person to become infected through unwashed hands.

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Viral pathologies

Since we are talking about contact with animals, we need to understand that it may not always end well. Often, when showing aggression, a dog can bite a person. And the question immediately arises, what can you get infected from a dog bite?

We already know about bacterial infections and the possibility of getting them during an animal bite, but what about viruses, which also cause various diseases?

• Rabies virus or neurotropic virus. It is considered the causative agent of a well-known pathology – rabies (other names: hydrophobia, hydrophobia). This is an extremely dangerous disease that cannot even be treated in animals. If the diagnosis is confirmed, the dog is put to sleep.

In animals, the disease can occur in 3 forms, which differ significantly in their symptoms:

Violent form: at first the dog is either lethargic and timid, or overly affectionate and intrusive, then it becomes restless, wary, and then overly aggressive. The dog may react violently to bright light, screaming, noise. After the attack, lethargy and apathy set in. The dog may refuse food, but gnaws and chews on inedible objects. Salivation appears, the voice becomes hoarse, turning into a howl. A distinctive feature of rabies is the inability to swallow water.

Quiet form: the dog is too affectionate, constantly tries to lick the owner, then salivation and anxiety appear, the lower jaw hangs down, it becomes difficult to swallow, especially water.

Atypical form: signs of inflammatory pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract (gastritis or enteritis).

In animals, the incubation period can last from 5 days (in puppies) to 2 months, in isolated cases – up to a year.

The question of whether it is possible to get rabies from a dog has long been considered irrelevant, because dogs are the main carriers of the virus. Another question is how can you get rabies from a dog? Usually, infection occurs when an animal bites. But since the virus is contained in the saliva of a dog, which can obsessively lick its owner, it is possible to get infected through damage to the skin in the place where the animal actively licked or where it left its saliva.

Depending on the location of the bite, the incubation period in humans lasts from 5 to 40 days, and sometimes up to 1 year. The higher on the body the bite is located, the faster the disease will develop, which usually has 3 stages:

Stage 1 (1-3 days): nagging pain, itching and inflammation at the site of the bite, temperature within 37-37.3 ^o C, headaches, general weakness, depression, fear, sometimes hallucinations, nightmares, loss of appetite and sleep.

Stage 2 (2-3 days): the appearance of hydrophobia (a person cannot drink, spasms in the throat occur even from the sound of water), rare convulsive breathing, convulsions throughout the body, groundless fear from every sharp sound or movement, dilated pupils, salivation, rapid pulse, hyperhidrosis;

The person is agitated, attacks of aggression and inappropriate behavior appear (hitting, biting, tearing out his hair, etc.), after the attack the patient becomes normal and adequate.

Stage 3 (about 1 day): impaired sensitivity, paralysis of muscles and organs, unusual calm, temperature of about 42 ^o C, increased heartbeat, low blood pressure. Then comes death.

There is no need to be afraid, because it usually does not come to this. After a dog bite, a sober-minded person will definitely go to the hospital, where he will be vaccinated (the modern vaccine COCAV) on the same day. The main thing is not to delay going to the doctor. If more than 2 weeks have passed since the bite, the vaccine may no longer help. And the appearance of the first symptoms of the disease indicates that no treatment will help the person.

Readers may also ask an unusual question: is it possible to get rabies from a vaccinated dog? Veterinarians claim that a vaccinated dog cannot get rabies. It is another matter if it received the virus before that (the incubation period can be long), and the vaccination did not have time to work, or was in close contact with a sick dog, so that the saliva of the infected animal remained in the mouth. As we can see, the probability of infection from a vaccinated dog is very, very small.

Moreover, doctors say that it is also unlikely to become infected from an unvaccinated domestic dog if the animal does not interact with yard dogs.

• Hepatitis virus is a microorganism from the adenovirus group. In dogs, it causes infectious viral hepatitis (Rubart's disease), which is characterized by an inflammatory process in the liver.

In animals it manifests itself as: an increase in temperature to 41 ^° C, depression, loss of appetite, bouts of vomiting, diarrhea, enlargement and redness of the tonsils, the appearance of a whitish cloudy spot on the eyes, lightening of feces and darkening of urine, sometimes a yellowish tint on the skin and mucous membranes.

Young dogs usually die, and those that survive suffer from liver disease.

A fair question arises: can you get hepatitis from a dog? A dog can get the disease quite easily, through touch, but it will be safe for a person. So the disease is scary for the animal, but not for its owner.

• HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus, which later causes AIDS. The name of the virus itself indicates that this virus mainly affects people.

Can dogs become infected with HIV? No, they can only be a short-term carrier of the infection, which cannot survive for long outside the human body.

However, according to many studies, insects can also become carriers of HIV. So maybe dogs can also reward a person with such a dangerous disease, which is absolutely safe for them?

Let's not sin against the truth, the probability of such infection exists, but it is so insignificant that it is simply not taken into account. How big is the probability that a dog, having bitten a patient with HIV infection until it draws blood, will attack a healthy person and bring infected blood into the wound? This is the chance of infection.

• Rotavirus or rotavirus infection (also known as intestinal or stomach flu) is a virus, various strains of which cause severe symptoms in different animals, including dogs, and in humans. The main symptoms are intoxication, diarrhea, dehydration, plus all sorts of cold symptoms.

Rotavirus infection is highly contagious and has a short incubation period (up to 12 hours). It is dangerous for people with weak immunity, children and the elderly. Can a dog become infected with rotavirus from a sick owner? Fortunately, no, because for puppies, with whom owners are especially fussy, the disease can be fatal (for adult dogs, rotavirus is not dangerous).

In humans and dogs, the disease is caused by different strains of the virus, so transmission of the disease between them is impossible.

• Canine distemper virus is a microorganism from the morbillivirus family that causes a disease in dogs with the funny name "distemper". What else can you call a disease that mainly affects young animals aged 3-12 months?

Distemper (carnivore plague) is a very dangerous disease for animals, which affects the respiratory system, digestive organs, skin and central nervous system. Quite often, the disease leads to the death of the dog.

Symptoms: high temperature (up to 40 ^° C), vomiting, diarrhea, profuse purulent discharge from the nose and eyes, convulsions.

Can a person become infected with distemper from a dog? No, the canine distemper virus is not dangerous for a person, but the measles virus, which also belongs to the morbillivirus family, is another matter. But a person, like a cat (who does not get sick herself), can very well be a carrier of the virus if he took care of a sick animal. In the external environment, the virus can survive for up to 2-3 months. In this case, the owner becomes dangerous for his dog if it was not vaccinated in time and is sensitive to the infection.

And finally, a question that is directly related to the viral infection that we often call a cold. So is it possible to catch a cold from a dog, since it causes the same symptoms in both humans and animals: sneezing, coughing, runny nose, watery eyes?

There is no need to worry about this, because, as in the case of rotavirus infection, the symptoms of the disease in humans and dogs or cats are caused by completely different viruses. So there is no need to be afraid to treat your pet for fear of getting sick yourself.

These inedible mushrooms

Not only bacteria and viruses can cause dangerous diseases in dogs. Some fungi also have this ability, which, having settled on the animal's skin, cause terrible anxiety in it. But whether a fungal infection can live on the human body and what exactly should be avoided, we still need to figure out. So, what fungal infection can you get from a dog?

Mycoses are diseases in dogs caused by fungal flora. The most common of mycoses is lichen or mycosporia. It is this that people fear most, and for good reason. You can become infected with lichen from a dog simply by petting a sick animal, which is often practiced by small children and ardent animal lovers.

In principle, lichen can have different forms, which differ in the pathogen (and it can be not only a fungus, but also a virus), the nature of the rash on the animal's skin, the localization of the spots and the degree of contagiousness. Characteristic symptoms of lichen are: colored or flaky spots on the skin that itch a lot, so the animal constantly scratches and spreads the infection throughout the body, hair loss at the site of the fungus. Sometimes lichen manifests itself in the form of scabs on the skin and lightening of the ends of the hair, which stops shining, looks unkempt, and clumps together.

The fungus that causes ringworm lives mainly in the epidermal layers of the skin of a dog or cat. Individual elements may be found on the animal's fur, especially after the dog has scratched an itchy spot. It is enough to just run your hand over the fur of a sick animal, and then touch your skin or hair, and the fungus will gladly accept the invitation to settle in a "new home".

In humans, the disease is called ringworm, and it is caused by zoophilic dermatophytes (a type of fungus). It is called ringworm because it really loves places on the skin covered with hair, which falls out under its influence. The incubation period of the disease, if it is received from an animal, is no more than a week. The risk of getting sick is higher in people with weakened immunity or wounds on the skin. Care for a sick animal is also a risk factor. Treatment of ringworm in animals is quite long, so if hygiene rules are not followed, the likelihood of infection is very high. It is especially dangerous if the animal is not isolated during treatment. In this case, fungal spores can be found for a long time on any surfaces with which the sick animal came into contact.

Numerous parasites

Yes, it is in the huge family of all kinds of parasites that the main danger of keeping pets lies, not to mention contact with strays. Parasites are micro and macroorganisms that live at the expense of others. Let's not get distracted by the fact that parasites are also among people, but let's talk about those parasites that live inside or on the surface of the body of humans and animals, and what parasites can be infected from a dog.

So, parasites are organisms that cannot exist for long outside the "host". If you think about it, this group can also include viruses, as well as some types of bacteria and fungi, but we are not talking about them now. We will talk about larger parasites, which can be divided into 2 groups:

• endoparasites include insects (ticks, fleas, lice) and some protozoa that can live on a dog's skin, feeding on its blood,
• Endoparasites torment the animal from the inside; these are helminths and some types of protozoa that settle in the internal organs.

Each group has a special subgroup of parasites. Among endoparasites, these are organisms that parasitize not on the surface of the skin, but in its internal layers (for example, some types of ticks). Endoparasites include those organisms that live in open cavities (nose, ears, mouth).

The richness of microflora in dogs can hardly surprise an experienced dog breeder, who probably knows the secrets of fighting its various types. But an inexperienced owner of a puppy or an adult dog, due to the lack of important knowledge and inaction, can kill the animal and harm himself. Those who do not have their own dog, but out of love for animals, a person often comes into contact with them on the street or when visiting, without thinking about the presence of parasites in a dog or cat, can also suffer.

What parasites can be found in animals and what can you get infected with from a dog? We will try to figure this out now.

Helminths

Let's start the analysis with worms, which are inhabitants of internal organs. The popular question of whether it is possible to get worms from a dog requires clarification. After all, worms (scientifically helminths) are a generalized concept that includes several groups of worms parasitizing in a living organism, causing diseases with the general name "helminthiasis". It would be more correct to ask what worms can you get from a dog?

Let's start with the most popular worms since childhood - pinworms, which cause a disease called "enterobiasis". Only children get enterobiasis. The immunity of an adult does not allow these small parasites to reproduce.

Enterobiasis is considered a disease in which infection can occur only in one way - through contact between people. Dogs, cats and other animals are not carriers of worms, so in this regard you can rest assured.

The second most popular are roundworms. These are large roundworms (up to 40 cm in length), causing pathologies called ascariasis, which can affect both humans and animals. Roundworms settle mainly in the gastrointestinal tract, giving preference to the small intestine, which subsequently becomes inflamed. However, they are quite active and can easily reach the respiratory organs, climb into the hearing organs, nasal canals, appendix, etc. Ascariasis can cause pneumonia, liver and pancreatic diseases, peritonitis, bronchitis, intestinal obstruction and other dangerous pathologies.

So far we have been talking about human roundworms. Animals have completely different worms. They are used to living in completely different conditions, at higher temperatures. For example, a dog's body temperature approaches 39 degrees.

Is it possible to get infected with roundworms from a dog? Human ones – no, since they are transmitted only from person to person and cannot live outside the human body. As for dog roundworms, the danger may be posed by such a type of roundworm as toxocara, the probability of infection with which with reduced immunity is 80%.

Toxocara are roundworms about 10-18 cm long, capable of active migration throughout the body, as a result of which they can be found in the liver, heart, eyes, lungs, brain, pancreas, skeletal muscles. A person can become infected with these helminths from the genus nematode both by consuming contaminated water and food, and by contact with a sick animal. Dogs are considered especially dangerous in this regard; infection from a cat is less likely, because they suffer from toxocariasis much less often.

A person can be a carrier of toxocara larvae for a long time without knowing it. But when the immune system is weakened, they quickly turn into worms and begin to travel around the body.

Symptoms of toxocariasis: general health deteriorates, temperature rises to 37-38 degrees, appetite deteriorates, nausea and vomiting appear. Cough may appear. Body weight decreases. Patients complain of muscle pain and enlarged lymph nodes. Various allergic rashes often appear on the skin.

The disease requires serious and long-term treatment. If it is not taken, the parasite can live in the body for 10 years, affecting various organs and systems (inflammatory pathologies, hearing and vision impairment, etc.).

Another pathology associated with nematodes, which can be diagnosed in humans and dogs, is called dirofilariasis. This is not such a common disease, because its transmission requires an intermediary. Blood-sucking insects act as intermediaries.

With roundworms everything seems clear, but what about flatworms?

Echinococcus is a tapeworm that causes a severe disease with a long period of latent progression called "echinococcosis". The adult worm is small in size (2-7 mm), but causes a lot of harm, causing disruption of the structure and functions of various organs, including the heart, kidneys, spleen, spinal cord and brain, liver, etc.

Hunting dogs and farm animals are considered the main source of infection. The larvae, which are transmitted from a sick organism to a healthy one, nest in the dog's feces, from where they can get onto fur or various objects. Infection occurs through contact with a dog or contaminated surfaces.

In the host organism, the larvae form cysts filled with fluid, in which they remain until they mature. Such cysts can be found in various organs.

There is also a possibility of transmission from a dog to a person with the cucumber tapeworm, which causes dipylidiosis. To infect a person from a dog, again, an intermediary is needed, and this is fleas. You can become infected with the cucumber tapeworm only by accidentally swallowing a flea, in whose body there is a worm larva.

Symptoms of the disease: increased salivation, vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea, cyanosis of the skin. Severe abdominal pain, dizziness, irritability, itching in the anus are often noted.

Single-celled parasites

But not only worms can be inhabitants of the internal organs of dogs and humans. They can also be protozoa.

Toxoplasma is just one of the types of protozoa that can be found in dogs. The disease that develops under their influence is called toxoplasmosis.

Is it possible to get toxoplasmosis from a dog? Of course it is, and very easily, just by contact with or caring for your own or a stray dog.

It is believed that approximately half of the world's population is infected with toxoplasma. In some people with good immunity, the disease may be asymptomatic. In others (in the acute form), there is a strong increase in temperature, enlargement of the liver and spleen, vomiting, headaches, convulsions, paralysis. The chronic form occurs with a low temperature, fatigue, headaches and enlarged lymph nodes.

The disease may be accompanied by damage to various organs and systems. In pregnant women, the pathology causes miscarriages. If the brain is damaged, there is a risk of developing schizophrenia.

Giardia is another fairly popular type of protozoa that lives outside the body in the form of cysts. Giardia feels great both in the human body and inside a dog or other animal.

Is it possible to get infected with giardia from a dog? And why not? True, the probability of such infection is much lower than when drinking contaminated water. The fact is that only cysts that can be found in the feces of an animal are considered infectious. The probability of cysts of giardia from feces getting onto food or human hands is very small, unless they end up on the dog's fur. Therefore, infection with giardia from animals happens rarely.

The danger to humans from worms in a dog's body is that helminthiasis can occur without any obvious symptoms. Weight loss and deterioration (or, conversely, increase) of appetite in a pet are often associated with other reasons. An obvious specific symptom can only be anal itching and the appearance of worms in feces or at the exit from the anus, which does not always happen and not with all helminths. It turns out that the owner may not even suspect what danger is near him and what a hidden disease of the dog can turn into.

Lice and fleas

Many parents have encountered how many unpleasant moments lice give to a child, which can easily migrate to the head of an adult. Watching how our smaller brothers itch (and this is the main symptom of the presence of parasitic insects), and finding small insects in their fur, you will inevitably wonder whether it is possible to get lice from a dog?

The answer to the question will sound like this: you can get infected, but it is not dangerous, because lice in animals and in people are completely different insects. Human lice are attracted to our blood, while dog fleas will not like it. Once on a person's head, a flea will not stay there for long, and will look for opportunities to return to where the food is tasty.

The same applies to lice - small, slow-moving, translucent parasites that can be found in animal fur. Changing the place of residence from a dog to a person is fraught with the death of the insect, which simply freezes on the human body, because its temperature is almost 2 degrees lower than that of a dog.

Ticks

Many people don't even want to remember these parasites, so many unpleasant moments can be associated with them. Not only does the insect cause unbearable itching, penetrating under the skin of an animal or a person, but it is also not so easy to remove.

The most famous disease of humans and animals caused by mites is scabies. However, not everyone knows that it is the mite that causes itchy skin, and not uncleanliness. The association between scabies and dirt arose because the disease is very common among homeless people. But the reason is not dirt, but that scabies is very contagious. The scabies mite is a nocturnal insect, and only during this period can the female be on the surface of the skin for copulation. The mite is transmitted through close contact of the skin of a sick person with the body of a healthy person, especially at night, which is very popular among people without a permanent place of residence.

Now, regarding animals. The question of whether you can get scabies from a dog has a rather complicated answer. Let's start with the fact that the scabies mite has several varieties that settle either on humans or on animals. Everyone has their own preferences.

But it is also impossible to completely exclude the possibility of dog ticks being transmitted to humans. If an adult or a child actively hugs an infected dog in the evening, it is possible that the female tick will try to change the environment. But this will not do her any good, since being on a human body does not allow the scabies mite to fully complete its life cycle from larva to adult. Eventually, both the tick and its larvae will die, so the disease will not last long.

Another type of parasitic mites is demodex. The disease they cause is called demodicosis and manifests itself not so much in the form of itching (it is rather a slight tickling), but in the appearance of reddish pimples on the skin, redness and peeling of the skin, swelling of the eyelids.

Is it possible to get demodicosis from a dog? Opinions on this matter differ. On the one hand, demodex, like the scabies mite, has several varieties depending on the animal whose body is its habitat. It would seem that a dog mite should not live on a person. But you can find many reports when the cause of the disease in a person was precisely the subcutaneous dog mite.

So, is it possible to get infected with a subcutaneous mite from a dog? It is possible, in the same way as with scabies. But be that as it may, it is safe to say that the disease will not last long. After all, the living conditions in the body of a human and an animal are completely different. A lower human body temperature will not allow the mites to actively reproduce.

Can a child get infected from a dog?

When a four-legged friend appears in the family, filling the area with a loud, joyful bark, when the owners pay attention to it, children are especially delighted. For them, a dog is both a friend and a soft toy that can be squeezed, hugged and even saddled, if the animal's size allows. Let's talk about how safe such a toy is.

Dogs, like people, can have many different diseases, some of which are considered contagious and can be dangerous to humans. Bacteria and viruses, helminths and protozoa - this is an incomplete list of what makes a dog not such an attractive neighbor for both adults and children.

The fact is that the child's immune system is still in the formation stage for several years after birth. The defenses of a small organism are much weaker than those of adults, so children (especially babies from 0 to 3 years old) get sick even with those diseases that an adult organism can cope with in no time. And this is despite the fact that babies closely communicate with animals (both domestic and stray) much more and more actively than adults, who mostly look after animals, and do not hug and kiss them, which is typical for babies.

It is clear that a sick dog is more dangerous for a child than for an adult. What can a child get from a dog? All the diseases we wrote about above: leptospirosis, listeriosis, staph infection, rabies (if parents don't watch, but this is unlikely), fungal infection (also known as terribly contagious lichen, which is popular in childhood), helminths and even ticks (even if the illness doesn't last long).

And if the adult organism is able to resist the disease in most cases, then it is very difficult for a child's organism to cope with it. The same lichen in adults does not occur as often and does not reach such a prevalence as in a child. Not to mention caution. An adult is unlikely to smooth his hair or touch his face after close contact with a yard dog, but this is quite typical for a child.

A sensible adult will not take food with unwashed hands after contact with a dog, but a child, seeing an appetizing apple or cookie, is unlikely to think about caution and the possibility of infection with helminths.

It should be said that adults become infected in most cases for the same reason as children. This is primarily due to failure to observe basic hygiene requirements. Unwashed hands become a source of infection not only in the case of dogs. Even if you have a sick animal at home, you can become infected with a non-"dog" disease if you cook and eat food with unwashed hands, if you touch your face with the same hands, perform cosmetic procedures (for example, squeezing out acne) and medical manipulations (skin treatment, injections, etc.).

Dogs simply increase the probability and somewhat expand the range of possible pathologies. This means that when getting a pet, you should always remember this, teaching yourself and your children to be clean.

It is important to understand that the probability of catching an unpleasant and dangerous "disease" from a pet is much lower than from a stray dog. And yet, a dog is not a cat with its own litter box, which may completely refuse to visit the street. Dogs, especially large ones, are taught to relieve themselves outside, where they can come into contact with sick animals and surfaces (for example, grass) that may contain parasite larvae.

As for small dogs, and there are quite a few dwarf breeds now, and they are becoming increasingly popular, then here too, everything is not so simple. It would seem that you take a healthy puppy, do not let it out on the streets, and the problem of contagious diseases is solved. But even a puppy or a small dog that has never been on the street is not absolutely safe. And we, people, are a danger to them.

Everyone knows how dogs love to play with shoes. But it is on shoes that we can bring home any infection. The dog chewed the shoe, rubbed its fur against it and now has problems that will most likely be passed on to us, and first of all to our children.

But if everything is clear with hand and body hygiene, here you can somehow take care of it, then with shoes everything is much more complicated. After all, it is not enough to put your shoes away from your pet, you also need to wipe the floor every time you enter the house, and this is already problematic.

The only reliable way to protect yourself and your dog is to vaccinate your pet on time and have it examined regularly by a veterinarian. In principle, there is a vaccine for almost every disease that can be contagious to humans. And veterinarians actively suggest vaccinating pets and regularly deworming them and treating them with special flea and tick remedies (you can use special collars).

But due to the fact that medicines are not cheap these days, dog owners are in no hurry to buy them, not realizing the consequences, which can be much more expensive. Especially if one of the dog's owners is a child.

Some people do not want to resort to vaccination, considering it a waste of money that does not cure the disease. This is facilitated by references to cases of people becoming infected from dogs that were vaccinated. But if you look into them in more detail, it turns out that the dog owner was primarily to blame for not adhering to the vaccination regime.

Is it possible to get infected from a vaccinated dog? Yes, but only if the vaccination was not carried out on time, and the dog managed to catch the infection before the vaccine was administered. Considering that any disease has an incubation period, neither the owner nor the veterinarian might not even know about the infection.

The probability of getting infected from a vaccinated animal is extremely low. After all, it becomes contagious when the disease enters the open phase, and the vaccine at this time in most cases begins to act and the animal's body actively fights the pathogens.

And now, as a bonus, let's consider a question that many will find funny. Is it possible to get cancer from a dog? It would seem, what does cancer have to do with dogs? However, it has been scientifically and practically proven that our four-legged friends, it turns out, can suffer from oncological diseases, just like their owners. And cancer in dogs is treated, like in people, with chemotherapy. However, dogs can only transmit cancer cells to animals from the canine order. According to doctors, other animals and people do not need to be afraid of infection.

As we can see, our smaller friends have not only purely canine diseases, but also those that can be dangerous for humans. The list of answers to the question of what you can get infected with from a dog is not so small, and the diseases are not at all harmless. Therefore, first of all, it is worth thinking not so much about which "canine" diseases are dangerous for humans, but about possible ways to avoid infection. And this is, first of all, hygiene and sanitation, as well as disease prevention in the animals themselves (at least out of love for their pets). After all, not only we, people, have the right to a happy, healthy life.

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