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Experts: Animal-to-human diseases nothing new

monkeys
A medical researcher contracted a fatal strain of herpes from a monkey
 

From Medical Correspondent Dr. Steve Salvatore

ATLANTA (CNN) -- A flu virus from chickens infects humans in Hong Kong. A medical researcher in Atlanta contracted a fatal strain of herpes from a monkey.

Both events raise fear and concern, but researchers say that the spread of disease from animals to humans is not at all surprising.

Humans and all animals have similar DNA. We are all living organisms, and we share common links.

"One thing is that we share many of the infectious agents with our mammalian cousins," says Dr. Steve Ostroff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "In some instances, they can make the mammals sick, but they don't make humans sick. And in other instances, they can make humans sick."

And it doesn't take much to catch a disease from an animal. Some methods of transmission include:

  • getting bitten or scratched by an animal
  • eating an infected animal
  • breathing in infectious materials from an animal, the so-called "aerosol" route

Even household pets -- dogs and cats -- can carry diseases that can be passed to their owners.

"I think we always have to presume that there's always that potential ... to catch something -- from either your pet or from the domestic animals the live around us, or even from wildlife," Ostroff said.

Experts recommend good hygiene, proper safety precautions and good old fashioned common sense to avoid most animal-to-human infections.

But history tells us we've been getting infections from animals since we've been around. That's likely to continue well into the future.

 
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