Zoonosis

[KL Council]

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Zoonosis
Classification and external resources
DiseasesDB 28555
MeSH D015047

"Zoonotic" redirects here. For the television episode, see Zoonotic (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode).
A zoonosis (pronounced /ˌzoʊ.əˈnoʊsɨs/) or zoonose[1] is any infectious disease that can be transmitted (in some instances, by a vector) from non-human animals, both wild and domestic, to humans or from humans to non-human animals (the latter is sometimes called reverse zoonosis). Many serious diseases fall under this category.

The simplest definition of a zoonosis is a disease that can be transmitted from other vertebrate animals to humans. A slightly more technical definition is a disease that normally infects other animals, but can also infect humans. The reverse situation (transmission from human to animal) is known as anthroponosis.

The emerging interdisciplinary field of conservation medicine, which integrates human and veterinary medicine, and environmental sciences, is largely concerned with zoonoses.