It has often been said that a dog is a man’s best friend. In fact, the dog was the first animal to be domesticated by man. But dogs can also be a source of danger under certain conditions.
A dog can harm people by biting or transmitting several bacterial, viral, parasitic, fungal and rickettsial diseases.
Bacterial diseases transmitted by dogs are mainly tuberculosis brucellosis, splenic fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria etc. Dogs carry Salmonella enteriditis and S. typhinurium pathogens which cause gastroenteritis and typhoid in man.
Dogs along with other animals can transmit fungal diseases such as ringworm.
Rabies is the most dangerous viral disease caused by a dog-bite. Rabies virus is found in the saliva of rabid dogs. Sometimes even pet dogs can be the cause of this disease. Therefore it is essential that they should be vaccinated against rabies every three years.
Dogs occasionally get measles and mumps and can cause this infection to spread to human beings.
Dog is the host of rickettsia which causes tick-borne fever. It is also the main source of several parasitic infections. It can transmit protozoan, helminthic and arthropoid parasites to man.
Infections are passed from dog to man mainly by contact or food contamination. As children are fond of playing with pet dogs, chances of their catching infections are greater.
To check the spread of several diseases caused by dogs, it is essential to give them anti-rabies injection and oral anti-microbial therapy. Pet dogs should be kept away from patients afflicted with tuberculosis, scarlet fever, measles or mumps. Dogs may catch infection even from their rooms and spread them to other men.
Louis Pasteur was the first scientist to produce an effective vaccine, and the Pasteur Institute was founded to treat this disease.
