ZOONOSES

Dr. Babiker Mohamed Ali Rahamtalla

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 Introduction
 Animals are part of man's biological environment.
 Some of them act as reservoir hosts of a number of diseases.
 The WHO records more than 150 diseases and infections of animals
communicable to man - these are termed "zoonoses".
 The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee (1967) defined zoonoses as "those diseases
and infections which are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and
man".
 Zoonotic diseases may be due to viruses, bacteriae, rickettisiae, fungi, helminths,
protozoa, arthropods or insects.
 The WHO (1967) classified zoonoses into different groups.
 Sudan is one of the countries that have the largest animal population in the world.
 Being an agricultural country the relationship between man and
animals is the closest in this country.
 It is not uncommon to see animals and human beings living under the
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same roof.
 Introduction
 The available information indicates that a large number of zoonotic
infections (e.g., brucellosis, rabies, tuberculosis, leptospirosis, hydatid
disease) occur in different parts of the country.
 Except for rabies, the prevalence of other diseases in human being is not
well mapped out.
 The Directorate of Zoonoses in the Federal Ministry of Health is making
efforts to organize systematic and collaborative studies with other
Institutions on different zoonotic infections.
 The WHO has a section of Veterinary Public Health in its Division of
Communicable Diseases.
 The control of zoonoses is a challenge facing the veterinary public
health today.

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 Definition
 An infection or infectious disease transmissible under natural conditions
from vertebrate animals to man.
 May be enzootic or epizootic - e.g. , rabies, plague, bovine tuberculosis, anthrax,
brucellosis, salmonellosis, endemic typhus, hydatidosis, kyasanur forest disease,
monkeypox, lassa fever, etc.
 The term zoonoses has been further amplified as follows :
 (a) anthropozoonoses: that is, infections transmitted to man from
vertebrate animals, e.g. , rabies, plague, hydatid disease, anthrax and
trichinosis;
 (b) zooanthroponoses: that is, infections transmitted from man to
vertebrate animals e.g., human tuberculosis in cattle; and
 (c) amphixenoses: that is infections maintained in both man and lower
vertebrate animals that may be transmitted in either direction, e.g.,
Tcruzi,
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and S.japonicum
 Background
 Zoonotic diseases have been known since antiquity.
 Bubonic plague and rabies were known since biblical times.
 The discovery of causative agents during the "golden era" of
microbiology called attention principally to diseases exclusively
pathogenic to man.
 Zoonotic diseases were overshadowed by diseases peculiar to man alone.
 Only as human infections came under better control was attention
drawn to zoonotic diseases.
 More than 150 zoonoses have been recognized.
 In recent years, several new zoonotic diseases have emerged e.g. KFD,
Monkey Pox etc., Quite apart from the morbidity and mortality they
cause, zoonoses are responsible for great economic losses, particularly in
animals, meat, milk and other foods and products of animal origin.
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 Background
 The developing countries suffer much more severe losses than do the
industrialized countries, partly because they have less well-developed
public health and veterinary services and partly because of their
unfavourable climatic and environmental conditions.
 Zoonoses and human health are matters of particular concern in Sudan
- because nearly 70% of Sudan‘s population is rural and live in close
contact with domestic animals, and often not far from wild ones.
 Zoonoses have been defined as "Those diseases and infections [the
agents of] which are naturally transmitted between [other) vertebrate
animals and man."
 G.S. Nelson has pointed out that it is essential to discuss the direction of
transmission, as it is of little value to know that a particular organism is
found in both man and animals.
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 Classification
 What one is really concerned about is its relative significance of man
and animals, as maintenance hosts of the particular infection.
 The zoonoses have been classified in terms of their reservoir hosts,
whether these are men or lower vertebrate animals.
 Thus, the term anthropo-zoonoses has been applied to infections
transmitted to man from lower vertebrate animals.
 The term zooanthroponoses is applied to infections transmitted from
man to lower vertebrate animals; however, these terms have also been
used interchangeably for all diseases found in both animals and man.
 A third term, amphixenoses, has been used for infections maintained in
both man and lower vertebrate animals that may be transmitted in
either direction.

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 Classification
 A classification that is based upon the type of life cycle of the
infecting organism and that divides the zoonoses into four
categories, each with important shared epidemiologic features,
has considerable teaching value.
 The four categories are:
• (1) Direct zoonoses are transmitted from an infected vertebrate
host to a susceptible vertebrate host by direct contact, by
contact with a fomite, or by a mechanical vector.
• The agent itself undergoes little or no propagative changes and
no essential developmental change during transmission.
• Examples are rabies, trichinosis, and brucellosis.
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 Classification
 (2) Cyclo-zoonoses require more than one vertebrate host species, but no
invertebrate host, in order to complete the developmental cycle of the
agent. Examples are the human taeniases, echinococcosis, and
pentastomid infections.
 (3) Meta-zoonoses are transmitted biologically by invertebrate vectors.
In the invertebrate, the agent multiplies or develops, or both, and there
is always an extrinsic incubation (prepatent) period before transmission
to another vertebrate host is possible. Examples are numerous and
include arbovirus infections, plague, and schistosomiasis.
 (4) Sapro-zoonoses have both a vertebrate host and a non- animal
developmental site or reservoir. Organic matter (including food), soil,
and plants are considered to be non- animal. Examples include the
various forms of larva migrants and some of the mycoses.
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 Control of Zoonoses
 The principal components of control are:
 (a) Control in animals: The measure comprise diagnosis of the zoonotic
condition, treatment, destruction, quarantine and immunization.
 )b( Control of vehicles of transmission : These include establishment of
food hygiene practices, ensuring safety of animal products such as wool,
hides, horn , bones, fat, etc.; proper disposal of animal carcasses and
wastes, and disinfection procedures.
 (c) Prevention and treatment in man: This involves protection of high
risk groups, by immunization, chemoprophylaxis, monitoring of health
status including occupational health programmes, prevention of spread
by man, early diagnosis and treatment of the condition in man, health
education, prevention of environmental contamination, prevention of
food contamination, and improvement of diagnostic facilities.
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 Control of Zoonoses
 During the past 50 years, the concept of environment has become broad-
based.
 Modern ecologists use the term in its widest sense.
 The concept of environment covers first the general environment, for
instance water and air pollution, to which an individual is exposed.
 Secondly, it refers to the personal environment created by the individual himself-
including such cultural habits as cigarette smoking, alcohol, drug addiction.
 This has been described as "chemical environment".
 The concept that the general everyday chemical environment could also
be dangerous to human health developed slowly.
 Evidence is accumulating that environmental factors, especially factors
in the chemical environment, play a major role in carcinogenesis, and
that many cancers may be theoretically preventable.
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 Control of Zoonoses
 It is now current jargon to advocate an "integrated" approach
to the environmental problems where all aspects of a given
problem are looked at from all angles.
 It implies an unprecedented cooperation between different
services and disciplines.
 The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP),
UNESCO's Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme, WHO's
Environmental Health Criteria Programme, and the UN's
International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade,
1981-1990 are efforts in the direction to promote health in the
human environment.
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 Thank you

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