Cuddling your kitten is ok, so why isn't kissing your chicken?

How your furry friends could make you sick You know you can't resist looking at them: those videos starring adorable kittens or puppies, hatching eagle chicks, little ducklings, baby pandas. They show cute animals rolling around with infants, licking someone's face, or doing something unusual. You might even have seen CNN's report on an emotional support duck walking down the aisle of an airplane. Why do these videos go viral? Maybe because "animals can melt the human heart, tickle the funny bone or bring us to tears," as the Associated Press explained last year. They can also lure us into forgetting that not every animal is suited to be a pet or to be treated as one because some animals can carry germs that make people sick. Now don't get me wrong, I love animals as much as the next person, maybe even more. That's why I became a veterinarian and have many pets at home. But I'm also the mother of two young children, and I've dedicated my life to a career in curbing diseases that can be spread between animals and people (zoonoses). It's at the core of my job as the director of CDC's One Health Office in the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. As much as I love animals, I know that some--especially those frequently linked to outbreaks of human illness--are not the best animals to choose as pets. For example, a flock of chicks in your backyard may look like cute companions, but they also can carry Salmonella bacteria. Just in 2016, we've seen ei...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news