Any blood borne zoonoses I should know about?

WestCoast

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Poor old Bree, my new Friesian, had her teeth done and a wolf tooth removed yesterday. She was bleeing a bit afterwards and I got her blood all over some fresh scratches on her arm. I haven't heard of any blood borne diseases that are transmittable to humans, but please put my mind at rest (or not). If that had been a patient at work I'd be straight down occupational health.

Paula
 
Not that I know of:) I have had plenty of horse blood on me over the years and still alive with no side effects, other than the obvious horse owners ailments such as back ache, bruises etc, oh and permanent poverty:D:D:D
 
According to the USDA Equine Report (2005), with the possible exception of "accidents," the horse is not instrumental in the chain of events that might precipitate significant human illness morbidity or mortality. Horses are not generally associated with transmitting diseases to man (Kester 1977, Magdesian 2008, Timoney 2002, DebRoy 2007, Mike Westendorf 2008). No major human disease outbreak has ever been accurately attributed to the intimate contact human beings have had with horses for thousands of years (Duell 1989).

It was difficult to find any references in peer-reviewed literature to horses infecting people. The majority of zoonoses involve other domestic species or wildlife. Infectious equine diseases are usually solely of veterinary importance (Walcott and Timoney 2002). That is, while equines may develop diseases, usually only the veterinary staff and care givers to the horses are the people with greatest potential to develop the disease itself. While episodic outbreaks of various pathogens are reported in horses, infection of humans by these disease outbreaks has not significantly occurred according to veterinarians Vic Spain and Karen Blount (2008) and our appendices on pages 26-31. Zoonoses transmitted by horses are rare. Adult horses kept in a clean environment pose minimal risk for transmitting disease. Most of the 200 or so diseases that can be passed to humans are fairly rare and don’t occur much in the US according to Leon Russell, DVM from Texas A&M (2008).


Taken from ; http://www.americantrails.org/resources/horse/Diseases-Humans-Horses-Zoonosis-Brophy.html
 
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