Important Zoonotic Diseases of Wild Animals in North America

Zoonosis Agent Reservoir Route of Transmission Viral Diseases Arboviral infections Arboviruses Wild animals Transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks, midges, (esp. encephalitis) sandflies Hantavirus infection Hantavirus Wild rodents Aerosols Lymphocytic LCM virus Wild rodents Aerosols, contamination of mucous Choriomeningitis membranes or broken skin with infectious (LCM) tissues or fluids Newcastle Disease Newcastle virus Birds Aerosols, fomites Rabies Rabies virus Any biting animal, incl. Saliva of the rabid animal bats Rickettsial Diseases Cat Scratch Fever henselae Cat, porcupine Bite or scratch, maybe Afipia spp. Various wild animal Inhalation of infected aerosols from urine, spp. feces, milk, birth products Rickettsial pox akari Wild rodents Bites of infected ticks and fleas, aerosols Murine Bacterial Diseases Bubonic or respiratory Wild rodents Bites by infected fleas, inhalation Colibacteriosis spp. Animals, humans Fecal-oral transmission, contaminated food Erysipeloid Erysipelothrix Swine, birds, fish Contact with infected animals, contamination rhusiopathiae of wound while handling infected tissues Leprosy Mycobacterium Armadillo Man is the principal reservoir, armadillos are leprae used as a model for human infection. Aerosol, contact with infected material Leptospirosis (Weil’s Leptospira spp. Mammals, Contact with urine or tissues of infected disease, hemorrh. amphibians, reptiles animals, aerosols Jaundice Listeriosis (Circling Listeria Fish, birds, mammals Food-borne transmission, unpasteurized milk disease) monocytogenes Lyme Disease Borrelia burgdorferi Deer tick Bite of the deer tick (Ixodes scapularis) Ornithosis (Psittacosis Chlamydia psittaci Birds, mammals, frogs Aerosols, contact with infectious material in Parrot Fever) exudates, secretions, fecal material Pastuerella multicida Mammals Wound infection Rat bite fever Sreptobacillus Rodents, esp. rat Bite by an animal monoliformis or Spirillum minor Salmonella spp. Mammals, birds, Fecal-oral route amphibians Tuberculosis Mycobacterium spp. Many wild animal Aerosols (Consumption) spp. Expec. Birds (Rabbit Franciscella tularensis Rabbit, squirrel, deer, Handling infected tissue. Bites of ticks, fleas, fever) sheep, rodents, etc. snakes

Zoonosis Y. enterocolitica and Wild and domestic Direct contact, fecal-oral route Y. pseudotuberculosis animals, incl. birds Protozoal Diseases Cryptosporidiosis Cryptosporidium spp. Mammals, birds, Fecal-oral route, contaminated water reptiles, fishes, espec. young animals Giardiasis Giardia spp. Wild animals Fecal-oral route Toxoplasmosis Toxoplasma gondii Wild and domestic Ingestion of infectious oocytes in material cats; warm-blooded contaminated with feline feces, contaminated animals and humans food are intermediate host Fungal Diseases Dermatomycosis Dermatophytes Humans and Direct skin-to-skin contact (Ringworm) mammals Histoplasmosis Histoplasma Birds, bats Inhalation of microconidia from contaminated capsulatum soil Helminth Parasitic Diseases Anisakiasis Anisakis spp. Marine fish Larva in undercooked fish Larval migrans Baylisascaris spp. Racoon Fecal-oral route (visceral) Tapeworm infection Echinococcus spp. Reindeer, caribou, Fecal-oral route, ingestion of ova wolves Trichinosis Trichinella spiralis Wild mammals Ingestion of larval cysts in meat Arthropod Parasitic Infestations Parasite species Disease in Humans Host Comments Fleas: Xenopsylla cheopsis Dermatitis Mouse, rat, wild Vector of Hymenolepsis nana, H. diminuta, Y. rodents pestis Nasopsyllus fasciatus Dermatitis Mouse, rat, wild Vector of H. nana, H. dimunata, R. mooseri rodents Mites: Obligate skin mites Scabies, mange Mammals (cat, dog, - Sarcoptes scabiei rabbit) subspp. Nest-inhabiting Dermatitis Rodents and other Vector for encephalitis viruses and Rickettsia parasites vertebrates, incl. birds spp. Ticks: Rhipicephalus Irritation Dog Vector of Rickettsia rickettsia, Francisella sanguineus tularensis, Ehrlichia canis Dermacentor Irritation Wild rodents, Vector of R. rickettsia, F. tularensis, E. canis variabilis cottontail rabbit Dermacentor Irritation Small mammals Vector of R. Rickettsia, F. tularensis, E. canis andersoni Dermacentor Irritation Wild rodents, dog Vector of R. Rickettsia, F. tularensis, E. canis occidentalis Amblyomma Irritation Dog, wild rodents, Vector of Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme Disease), americanum, Ixodes deer Borrelia recurrentis (Relapsing Fever), Babesia scapularis, Ixodes microti dammini B. Tober-Meyer, DVM, K-J Mayberry, Ph.D., W. Mayberry, Ph.D., East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN Adapted from: Occupational Health and Safety in the Care and Use of Research Animals. 1997. NRC, ILAR, 65-105