Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (10)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Robinson, R A
Right arrow Articles by N Pugh, R
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Dogs, zoonoses and immunosuppression

R A Robinson

Pre-clinical Affairs, College of Veterinary Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California 91766-1854, USA, ashleyrobinson{at}hotmail.com

R N Pugh

Directorate of Public Health Medicine, Walsall Health Authority, Walsall WS1 1TE, England

Dogs are the source of a wide range of zoonotic infections that pose a significant threat to human health. This is particularly the case for immuno-compromised people, although there are few robust studies that determine immunosuppression as a risk factor for transmission of zoonoses from dogs to humans. An increasing proportion of human society is immunodeficient, principally through the advent of HIV infection and through more people, particularly the expanding elderly group, being subjected to immunosuppressive agents. This is happening at a time when more such people are capitalising on the acknowledged benefits of dog ownership, making for a potentially dangerous mix. Enteric pathogens (for example, Salmonella, Campylobacter and Cryptosporidium species, that may be canine derived) are a frequent risk to the health of immunocompromised persons.

Veterinarians and physicians can be criticised for not communicating with each other, and for not providing adequate risk assessment to pet owners. There is scope for voluntary groups to provide information and support for the immunosup-pressed who wish to keep their dogs. Key recommendations are to maintain a clean personal environment and intact mucocutaneous barriers. Public health professionals could help rectify the current communications gap between veterinary and medical staff and so facilitate in the appropriate management of dog-owning immunocompromised people.

Key Words: Dogs • immunosuppression • risk assessment • zoonosis

The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, Vol. 122, No. 2, 95-98 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/146642400212200210
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Vet Rec.Home page
C. Westgarth, G. L. Pinchbeck, J. W. S. Bradshaw, S. Dawson, R. M. Gaskell, and R. M. Christley
Dog-human and dog-dog interactions of 260 dog-owning households in a community in Cheshire
Vet Rec., April 5, 2008; 162(14): 436 - 442.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]