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How Much Do You Know About Pet Diseases?

Dogs and cats and birds and hamsters. Snakes and guinea pigs and turtles. The family pet can be a source of joy and companionship, no matter what kind of animal it is. But sometimes your favorite animal can be a source of illness. Learn more about pets and disease by taking this quiz.

1. What is the word used for a disease that people can catch from animals?
2. From which common pet are you most likely to catch a disease?
3. A pregnant woman with a housecat shouldn't clean the litter box to avoid catching which disease?
5. When your child cuddles the family cat or dog, and the pet has a spot on its skin, what infection is your child most likely to get?
6. Which common pet group in the U.S. now has very few cases of rabies?
7. Animals sold for pets can have salmonella. This germ causes serious infection, with diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills. Which animals are most likely to have salmonella?
8. Children get head lice from which animal?
9. "Newly emerging" diseases that affect people include Ebola, Rift Valley fever, West Nile encephalitis, and hantavirus. All of these are carried either by an animal or by an insect that has picked up a bacteria or virus from an animal. In the U.S., which animal most commonly carries hantavirus?
10. What can you catch if your skin comes in contact with dog or cat droppings infected with hookworm? This might be by stepping barefoot or rolling on the ground.

Medical Reviewers:

  • Felson, Sabrina, MD
  • Sather, Rita, RN