Essay On Infections

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Bacterial Infections of Humans Caused by Bites of Animals (NOT insects)

Introduction
Animal bites on humans may cause open wounds or even crushing injuries. Like us, all animals carry certain bacteria or viruses that can cause illness if passed on to humans via the open wounds. The pathogen entry pathway for these zoonotic infections include bites or scratches, and direct contact saliva or waste. These diseases bring about a considerable amount of inconvenience to humans and therefore, the greatest concerns are of young children and immunocompromised patients. Children are especially susceptible to getting bitten and an adult supervision is always recommended because their immune systems are still weak and an infection that might mildly infect an adult can be fatal for them.
Substantially, injuries inflicted by dogs and cats are the most common, and in 70% of these cases, victims are attacked by their own pets or an animal they know. These bites can prove to be deadly after they become infected and cause serious problems, especially to the face and hands. Dog bites occur most frequently and cat bites usually cause deeper, highly infectious wounds because the infected region can be hard to clean. Bites from exotic pets (eg. Rats, gerbils, iguanas…) are not much of a concern as they do not carry serious risks. Livestock (eg. Horses, sheeps, cow…) have powerful jaws that can inflict crushing bite injuries and together with wild animal bites, infection, tetanus and rabies are concerns here.
Listed below are common infections following animal bites.

Body
Dogs and Cats
Dogs and cats are popular household pets but they risk passing the following diseases.

• Campylobacter Infection
The bacteria, Campylobacter Jejuni is found commonly ...

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...ldren are at higher risks of complications including dehydration, meningitis and sepsis.

Other Animals
Handling and caring for rodents (including hamsters and gerbils) or even fish, puts humans at risk for the below-mentioned infections.
• Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis (LCM)
People contract the LCM virus by inhaling particles of urine, faeces or saliva of infected rodents like hamsters and mice. LCM has flu-like symptoms including fever, fatigue, headaches, muscle aches, nausea and vomiting and, may even lead to meningitis or encephalitis. Like Toxoplasmosis, LCM can be a neonatal complication.

• Mycobacterium Marinum
This infection usually affects people exposed to contaminated water in aquariums or pools. Although Mycobacterium Marinum infections are generally mild and limited to the skin, they proved to be more severe in immunocompromised patients.

Conclusion

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