Pantnagar Journal of Research

Abstract

Kissing pets, swimming, or sleeping with them can invite zoonotic infections in the human population, some of which can also be transmitted via vectors like fleas, ticks, and mites, while others can be transmitted through food contaminated with animal hair, saliva, urine, and faeces. Children, pregnant women, elderly people, and others with their immune systems compromised are at high risk of contracting zoonotic diseases which may be emerging or re-emerging in nature. Awareness is the key to unlocking the healthy lifestyle that humans can enjoy with their pets. Dogs and cats are not just sentinel animals in the streets; rather, they have become indispensable members of our family. Therefore, their diseases too get an opportunity to infect humans.