Here's a list of zoonotic diseases prominent in the livestock industry:
gastrointestinal dysentery
salmonellosis
E. coli
campylobacteriosis
toxoplasmosis
listeriosis
toxigenic
cryptosporidiosis
leptospirosis
cysticercosis
tuberculosis
rabies
leishmaniasis
brucellosis
echinococcosis
toxoplasmosis
Q fever
trypanosomosis
hepatitis E
anthrax
And with county fairs gearing up for their show-tell-and kill festivities - Here's a round up of advice for participants who wanna watch:
Wash your hands before and after exposure to animals, don’t eat or drink in areas where animals are kept.
Visitors and exhibitors should wash and sanitize after touching any livestock and should not eat or drink in the animal barns, Miller said.
"Washing hands before you eat, every time you eat, greatly reduces the spread of disease. This is particularly important after visiting animal exhibits or being in direct contact with animals."
Never eat, drink or put things in your mouth while in animal areas and don’t take food or drink into animal areas.
“By not eating around farm animals, you greatly decrease your risk of getting the flu.”
Make sure there’s plenty of hand sanitizer in all of the livestock barns and signs up reminding fair-goers to wash their hands and avoid eating in the barns.
Don't drink or eat near pigs, and don't take food into animal areas.
REPEAT:
Don’t take food or drink into animal areas.
Guests of the fair shouldn’t touch the swine and don’t take food into barns.
Fair attendees should avoid carrying food or drink or putting things in the mouth while in the animal display areas.
Soap, water and frequent hand washing are the only ways to prevent the spread of infection when people, animals and food come together.
People who have contact with these animals should take precautions such as washing their hands, not eating or drinking in areas with swine.
And repeated through the industry handlers in regards to the 289 cases (15 hospitalized/1 dead) of H3N2v flu virus in one month's time:
Never eat, drink or put things in your mouth while in animal areas and don’t take food or drink into animal areas.
And in North Carolina after an E-coli event at the fair they are putting up barriers in this year's fair... Yes, (ironically) even the "petting zoo" is "hands off" with the animals.
See the pattern here?... Animals and food just don't mix!
But - Cooking up a 260 pound "pork burger"? Not a problem!
