Humans and cattle: a review of bovine zoonoses

Abstract

Infectious disease prevention and control has been among the top public health objectives during the last century. However, controlling disease due to pathogens that move between animals and humans has been challenging. Such zoonotic pathogens have been responsible for the majority of new human disease threats and a number of recent international epidemics. Currently, our surveillance systems often lack the ability to monitor the human-animal interface for emergent pathogens. Identifying and ultimately addressing emergent cross-species infections will require a "One Health" approach in which resources from public veterinary, environmental, and human health function as part of an integrative system. Here we review the epidemiology of bovine zoonoses from a public health perspective.

FIG. 1.

Characteristics of cattle zoonotic pathogens. (A) Host transmission: Percentage of cattle zoonotic pathogens for which human-to-human transmission occurs. (B) Transmission route: Percentage of cattle zoonotic pathogens able to be transmitted by various routes of exposure. (C) Geographic region: Percentage of cattle zoonotic pathogens found in each geographic region. (Data aggregated from Tables 2 and 3.)

FIG. 2.

Cattle zoonotic agent by microbiological category. (Data aggregated from Table 2.)