In spring and summer, your pet could get sick

The diseases e infections parasite passed on to humans by their pets – state known as zoonoses – increase in spring and summer due to weather conditions and poor hygiene, said Dr. Ylenia Márquez in Efe.

"This temperature (hot and humid) for humans and animals further promotes the presence of bacteria and parasites in the environment," said University of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics of the 39, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Márquez explained that gastrointestinal parasites animals leave eggs or larvae in their excrement, and in climatic conditions of heat and humidity "the permanence of these eggs is favored and they do not lose their viability".

The most common infections that can be contracted by pets are caused by bacteria and parasites, internal and external, that are in contact with contaminated excrement or the urine of the dog or cat.

Types of internal parasites The most common are intestinal infections, such as earthworms, which carry significant risks to animal and human health and can cause diarrhea to malnutrition.

Contact with animal feces is the most common way of entry of parasites.

However, there are vector-borne infections (animals transmitting diseases from one living being to another) such as fleas or ticks.

The infections through fleas – external parasites – they also increase during this season, because their eggs exposed to the environment "will evolve into small fleas and these will reinfect another animal or human," Márquez said.

The specialist noted that there are global studies that indicate that global climate change favors certain types of infections, for example those caused by Leptospira, a bacterium that is transmitted through contact with urine. Infected animals.

Leptospirosis disease, common in hot and humid weather, causes in humans symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle aches, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, and may even cause the involvement of certain organs.

Márquez emphasized the importance of taking hygiene measures such as washing hands after contact with animals at home and on the street, or with their excrement or urine, and avoid Ingestion of food contaminated with bacteria.

"I could say that most of these diseases can be prevented by having basic hygiene measures," he said.

For example, walking the dog and picking up feces, throwing them in the trash or burying them in the ground, reduces the exposure of parasitic cycles and environmental contamination, he said.

This is also due to the fact that feces that have been sprayed by heat "travel with the wind like suspended particles that contaminate absolutely everything," Márquez said.

The academic indicated that although the Zoonoses can affect any human beingbabies are more sensitive, patients with a deficiency of their immune system, patients on chemotherapy or suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes or cancer, the elderly and pregnant women.

He also urged to take responsibility for having a pet, to seek hygiene and health measures for them, such as the close supervision of a veterinarian, and to have a pet. have adequate control of vaccination.

"Maintaining this concept of health and prevention helps everyone, not only the family but also the community and the animal," concluded the doctor. EFE