ZOONOSIS

Zoonoses are diseases transmissible between (vertebrate) animals and humans. Transmission may be direct, in occupational settings or leisure activity, or from keeping pets, or indirect, via food and water. Examples include ‘bird flu’, bovine tuberculosis (TB), anthrax and rabies. The most common zoonotic infections for 2012 were:

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)

CJD is a rare and ultimately fatal degenerative brain disease. It is a transmissible spongiform encepthalopathy (TSE) that affects humans and animals. TSEs are thought to be caused by the build-up of an abnormal form of prion protein in the brain.

Variant CJD is caused by consuming meat from a cow that has been infected with a similar prion disease, bovine spongiform encepthalopathy (BSE), colloquially known as mad cow disease. 

Iatrogenic CJD (very rare) occurs when CJD is accidentally transmitted as a result of a medical or surgical procedure. 

Advice to pregnant women

Women who are, or who may be, pregnant should avoid close contact with sheep during lambing periods. Pregnant women who come into close contact with sheep during lambing may risk their own health and that of their unborn child, from infections which can occur in some ewes. These include chlamydiosis (enzootic abortion of ewes – EAE), toxoplasmosis and listeriosis, which are common causes of abortion in ewes. Q fever (caused by the organism Coxiella burnetii) can also be acquired following exposure during lambing, as the organisms may be present in birth fluids of animals (not just sheep) which have no clinical signs of disease.