A few years ago I reviewed a book about zoonotic diseases, which I thoroughly (and surprisingly) enjoyed; I highly recommended it. You can see that review here: https://www.vin.com/APPUTIL/Misc/BOOKREVIEW/Default.aspx?id=5759&pid=22 I have now had the opportunity to read and review another book on zoonoses--this one written for a different audience and with a different structure--and I really like this one too, but for different reasons.
Companion Animal Zoonoses is a comprehensive resource on diseases transmissible from the animals most likely to be kept by people as household pets (which include some fairly exotic species such as prairie dogs). This book provides in-depth but practical information primarily from a scientific perspective for an audience of veterinary and medical professionals. The bulk of the information to be derived from this text is contained in the first four chapters, which includes: Parasitic, Bacterial, Viral and Fungal Diseases. Following these topics are two short chapters which address Pets and Immunocompromised Individuals and Pet Bites.
Within the chapters dedicated to diseases, each agent or disease is listed alphabetically, with information about the etiology, life cycle, geographic distribution and epidemiology of the organism as well as sections regarding the disease (if any) in animals and in humans, including clinical presentation, diagnosis, management, and prevention. There are charts of complicated lifecycles, photos of lesions where helpful, and photomicrographs of many of the parasitic organisms.
Interestingly, there are also non-zoonotic or minimally zoonotic disease and organisms covered within this text. For example, there is a brief entry for Demodex spp. (not considered a zoonotic risk) and much longer entries for Staphylococcus aureus and other Staph species (widely misunderstood zoonotic risk). The authors seem to include these in an attempt to clarify information for veterinary and medical professionals, as companion animals are often "blamed" unfairly for conditions or illnesses in their owners which may lead to unnecessary euthanasia or abandonment.
At the same time, the authors have a healthy respect for the potential risks of keeping animals as pets and address the risk-to-benefit ratio considerations in the final two chapters of the text. There are extensive reference lists at the end of each chapter which will be useful for those readers doing more exhaustive research on the particular diseases or agents covered in this concise book.
This book should be considered a must-have for any veterinary hospital that sees small traditional or non-traditional companion animal species; it gives us the facts about the real zoonotic risks associated with pets, something that pet owners who have consulted "Dr. Google" often need to hear. I highly recommend it for veterinary technicians, students and clinicians.
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (2011)
319 pgs, hard cover
ISBN-13: 978-0-8138-1964-8