If you inhale the wrong particles around an open wound, you could fall sick.
You may have heard of people contracting Salmonella poisoning from their pet chicken. It can happen even if your chickens appear healthy and clean. All you need to do is put your hands in contact with your mouth after touching an infected animal, feed dishes or the chicken’s cage, and you could fall sick.
But that’s not the only way an animal can easily pass an infection to you. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently warned the public that you could potentially contract tuberculosis from a deer. Yes, a deer. How? It seems this happened to a 77-year-old man in Michigan. A seasoned hunter, the man inhaled infectious pathogens that made him sick while removing internal organs from a deer that, unbeknownst to him, was sick with bovine tuberculosis.
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So, that brings up something else. If it’s called ‘bovine TB’ do you need to worry about infections from cows? Not really. According to reports, bovine TB has been almost eradicated from commercial cattle stocks. It remains present in deer, elk and wild bison populations, however. You can get it through contact with an open wound on an infected animal, which can happen easily through hunting activities and slaughter.
It’s true that there is the potential for infection if you consume raw dairy products, but stick to pasteurized dairy, and you’ll likely be OK.
The symptoms of TB in humans include chest pain, weight loss, a fever, and a strong cough. If you suspect you are ill, see your doctor for treatment.
Bovine TB is resistant to one of the main drugs used to treat regular TB, but options exist.
