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PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERNS
Diseases of wildlife can cause significant illness and death to
individual animals and can significantly affect wildlife populations.
Wildlife species can also serve as natural hosts for certain diseases
that affect humans (zoonoses). The disease
agents or parasites that cause these zoonotic
diseases can be contracted from wildlife directly by bites or contamination,
or indirectly through the bite of arthropod vectors such as mosquitoes,
ticks, fleas, and mites that have previously fed on an infected
animal. These zoonotic diseases are primarily diseases acquired within a
specific locality, and secondarily, diseases of occupation and avocation.
Biologists, field assistants, hunters, and other individuals who
work directly with wildlife have an increased risk of acquiring
these diseases directly from animal hosts or their ectoparasites.
Plague, tularemia, and leptospirosis have been acquired in the handling and skinning
of rodents, rabbits, and carnivores. Humans have usually acquired
diseases like Colorado
tick fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Lyme
disease because they have spent time in optimal habitats of disease
vectors and hosts. Therefore, some general precautions should be
taken to reduce risks of exposure and prevent infection.
GENERAL PRECAUTIONS
Use extreme caution when approaching or handling a wild animal that
looks sick or abnormal to guard against those diseases contracted
directly from wildlife. Procedures for basic personal hygiene and
cleanliness of equipment are important for any activity but become
a matter of major health concern when handling animals or their
products that could be infected with disease agents. Some of the
important precautions are:
Wear protective clothing, particularly disposable rubber
or plastic gloves, when dissecting or skinning wild animals.
Scrub the work area, knives, other tools, and reusable gloves
with soap or detergent followed by disinfection with diluted household
bleach.
Avoid eating and drinking while handling or skinning animals
and wash hands thoroughly when finished.
Safely dispose of carcasses and tissues as well as any contaminated
disposable items like plastic gloves.
Cook meat from wild game thoroughly before eating.
Contact a physician if you become sick following exposure to
a wild animal or its ectoparasites. Inform the physician of your
possible exposure to a zoonotic disease.
Precautions against acquiring fungal diseases, especially histoplasmosis,
should be taken when working in high-risk sites that contain contaminated
soil or accumulations of animal feces; for example, under large
bird roosts or in buildings or caves containing bat colonies.
Wear protective masks to reduce or prevent the inhalation of fungal
spores. Protection from vector-borne diseases in high-risk areas
involves personal measures such as using mosquito or tick repellents,
wearing special clothing, or simply tucking pant cuffs into socks
to increase the chance of finding crawling ticks before they attach.
Additional preventive methods include checking your clothing and
body and your pets for ticks and removing the ticks promptly after
returning from infested sites. If possible, avoid tick-in-fested
areas or locations with intense mosquito activity during the transmission
season. Reduce outdoor exposure to mosquitoes especially in early
evening hours to diminish the risk of infection with mosquito-borne
diseases. Equally important preventive measures are knowledge
of the diseases present in the general area and the specific habitats
and times of year that present the greatest risk of exposure.
Knowledge of and recognition of the early symptoms of the diseases
and the conditions of exposure are essential in preventing severe
illness.
[Wildlife Diseases]
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