Most diseases affect only cats, but there are some diseases, called zoonotic diseases, that can be transmitted between cats and people. You are much more likely to contract illness from other humans than you are from your cats. However, simple precautions and good hygiene, such as careful handling of litter boxes and treating cats with fleas and other parasites, can reduce the risk of contracting zoonotic diseases.
Zoonotic diseases are transmitted when a susceptible person comes into direct contact with secretions or excretions such as saliva, feces, water or food, which may have been contaminated by an infected cat. Also, fleas and ticks can act as vectors or carriers from an infected animal to a cat or a person.
People at risk of contracting disease from cats are those with immature or weak immune systems like infants, people with immune deficiencies, elderly people and people undergoing chemotherapy.
Common zoonotic diseases are:
- Bacterial infections such as bartenellosis or cat scratch disease and salmonella.
- Parasitic infections causing zoonosis are fleas, intestinal roundworms and hookworms. Fleas cause itching and inflammation from bites, and may also serve as carriers for cat scratch disease. Children can become infected on rare occasions, by ingesting the tapeworm carried by flea-infested cats. Other intestinal parasites can infect children due to their higher likelihood of contact with contaminated soil, causing visceral or cutaneous larval migrans due to consumption of parasite eggs found in soil.
- Ringworm is a skin infection caused by a fungus. Children and the elderly are often very prone to fungal infections from cats, even though the cat may show few to no signs of infection.
- Protozoal infections such as cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis are transmitted by contaminated water. Eating undercooked or raw meat transmits toxoplasmosis, or inadvertently consuming contaminated soil on unwashed or undercooked vegetables or fruits. Pregnant or immune-compromised people are often mistakenly advised to remove cats from the household; however, people are highly unlikely to become infected from direct contact with their cats. Cats become infected by eating infected rodents, birds or anything contaminated by feces of an infected cat. An infected cat can shed the parasite in its feces for up to two weeks. The parasite must mature in the soil, water, garden or sandbox or anywhere the infected cats defecates for one to five days to become infective, and can persist in the environment for many months.
- Wash hands before eating and after handling cats.
- Schedule annual check-ups and fecal exams for your cat; keep their vaccinations current, and seek veterinary care if your cat is sick.
- Avoid letting your cat lick your face, food utensils or plates.
- Consider keeping your cat indoors.
- Seek medical attention for cat bites.
- Feed cats with commercially processed or cooked food only, not raw meats.
- Scoop litter boxes to remove fecal material daily, and periodically clean litter boxes with scalding water and detergent. People at increased risk should avoid handling cat boxes.
- Wear gloves when gardening or handling raw meat; wash hands afterwards.
- Cover children's sandboxes when not in use.
- Wash fruits and vegetable before eating.
- Filter or boil surface water before drinking.
- Cook meat to 160 degrees F or 80 degrees C (medium to well done).
Sharon E. Anderson, DVM
