Zoonoses
Unless experimentally infected with a zoonotic agent, research animals generally carry a limited number of infectious microorganisms of concern to animal users. This is mainly due to the existence of preventative medicine programs and the frequent use of specific pathogen free animals in research projects. Although infrequent, the risk of infection between research animals and humans does exist and must be recognized in order to avoid exposure. For example, dogs or cats may shed Giardia in their feces, rodents naturally carry a bacteria that causes rat-bite fever in humans, wild-caught mammals might be infected with the rabies virus, and Salmonella could be shed by a number of domestic and wild species, from reptiles to cows.
Zoonotic Hazards
| Laboratory Rodents | Wild Rodents | Dogs | Cats |
| Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) | GI pathogens | Cryptosporidiosis | Cat scratch disease |
| Rate bite fever | Hantavirus | GI pathogens | GI pathogens |
| Leptospirosis | Giardiasis | Rabies | |
| Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) | Rabies | Ringworm | |
| Plague | Ringworm | Toxoplasmosis | |
| Rate bite fever | |||
| Reptiles & Amphibians | Fish | Horses | Pigs |
| Aeromoniasis | Aeromoniasis | GI pathogens | GI pathogens |
| Chlamydiosis | Cutaneous mycobacteriosis | Rabies | Rabies |
| Salmonellosis | Ringworm | Ringworm | |
| Cattle | Small Ruminants | Poultry | Wild Mammals |
| Cryptosporidiosis | Contagious ecthyma | GI pathogens | GI pathogens |
| GI pathogens | GI pathogens | Leptospirosis | |
| Q fever | Q fever | Salmonellosis | |
| Rabies | Rabies | Rabies | |
| Ringworm | Ringworm | Ringworm | |
| Wild Birds | |||
| Avian mycobacteriosis | |||
| Chlamydiosis | |||
| GI pathogens | |||
| Salmonellosis |