INTRODUCTION
When people think about diseases they can get from animals, probably one of the first diseases that comes to mind is rabies. Indeed, rabies is a serious disease that has been around since before recorded history, but the chances of someone in North America developing rabies is pretty low. There are far more common diseases that we get from animals that do not get the attention or generate headlines as does rabies. Cat scratch fever affects over 20,000 people per year in the United States. Between 4% and 20% of children in America are infected with roundworms that have been transmitted from small animals. Compare that with the zero to four cases of rabies seen in the United States each year. Granted, unprotected people will die if they develop rabies, but cat scratch fever and roundworms can also cause death and have serious economic effects.
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