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Asked by fayesedg to Cat on 16 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by amina11.
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Cat O'Connor answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Great question Fayesedg and Amina11,
And it’s one that we’re still learning about everyday!
In the UK (and Ireland) the main animals that spread bTB (bovine TB) are cattle and badgers. But deers can also spread it too. Some other animals can also get infected with the bug, like cats and dogs and humans, but they rarely pass it on to other animals (or other individuals of the same species). We call these animals dead-end hosts, do you understand why?
Buy we know from other countries that have bTB, that other animals can be a problem. Take New Zealand, possums and ferretts (?!?) are the wildlife animals that spread the infection there. In Spain and France, they think it’s Wild Boar that spread infection. And in Michigan in the USA, they have a problem with elk and deer spreading bTB.
I don’t think ticks or fleas spread it at all but I’ll have to look it up. Do you know any other diseases where ticks and fleas are important in spreading infection?
Cat
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Comments
fayesedg commented on :
Thanks Cat! Especaily for telling me about the other countries that get BTB,
As for your question,
I know that Lyme Disease is transmited via ticks, its one of the main tick transmitted diseases in the US. I think its deer that mainly have the disease, also dogs and cats usualy get tapeworms from fleas but I dont think tapeworms count as an infection, a pest would be a better discription.
Faye
Cat commented on :
Great answer Faysedg,
Lyme disease is becoming more of an issue here in the UK too so it’s great that you know something about it now! And I think you can say that cats and dogs have tapeworm infestations instead of infections so you are dead right on that count!
Cat