Zoonotic?

Sent down from Novels.

Isn't it diseases transmitted by animals to humans?

Are there any diseases that go from humans to animals?

I would imagine there might be but I don't know what they are and if there are none there would be no reason for such a word -no?

Curious to see whether such a word exists and what the diseases are.

In general discussion most diseases are assumed to be transmitted only within a species (any species). If a disease crosses the species barrier between humans and other animals, in either direction, it falls in the special category of zoonosis. So when swine flue passed between pigs and chickens it was not a zoonitic disease, only when it was then caught by people did it become one. Nor are all zoonotic diseases very serious, the common cold is zoonotic.

Some folks say a 'reverse zoonosis' for diseases going from humans to animals. Humans can give various animals the flu, parasites, and plenty of other nasties.

Otherwise, zoonotic can still be used for humans to animals.

http://www.who.int/zoonoses/en/

Any disease or infection that is naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans and vice-versa is classified as a zoonosis according to the PAHO publication "Zoonoses and communicable diseases common to man and animals". Over 200 zoonoses have been described and they have been known for many centuries. They are caused by all types of agents: bacteria, parasites, fungi, viruses and unconventional agents.

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There are a lot of humans, and a lot of non-human animals, so anything that can cross species easily can cause a lot of grief. Especially if it's an animal we associate with closely.

contagion/contagious?

We are explaining that there kind of doesn't need to be a name for it. It's the default. When people are talking about disease they classify things they need to classify, general exceptions to rules. Humans transmitting disease to other humans is the rule. It's just called a disease. If confusion is possible, a non-zoonotic disease.

communicable?

anthroponotic

Rufus Coppertop said:

anthroponotic

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Close, but no cigar. It's zooanthroponotic. Alas, it is just too long for the Scrabble board!

(Edit) I've just read Escape Artist's second post and you get the cigar after all!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroponotic_disease

Zoonotic is not one of two ideas (human born/animal borne) but of the wider set of possible transfers some by direct human-to-human, some via vectors and some (like airborne) that are something in between. Off the top of my head some other types of transfer are: fecal-oral (thyphoid), airborne (common cold), skin to skin contact (human papilloma virus), waterborne (cholera), transfer of bodily fluids (HIV), zoonotic (insect borne:malaria, mammal borne:rabies) there are lots of others but I can't be bothered to dig up my first year Biochem notes to find them.

I think we have already covered what zoonotic means
zoonotic: goes between human and animal species
zooanthroponitic/anthroponitic: a subset of zoonosis which goes between human and animal species with humans as the main host

Passed only between humans=no word for that, at least not in common use.

veinglory said:

Passed only between humans=no word for that, at least not in common use.

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Decide how the disease is transferred and use the more specific term for that type of transfer. Problem solved.

SinK said:

Decide how the disease is transferred and use the more specific term for that type of transfer. Problem solved.

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OP specified the disease is transferred from human to human, the word for that is human-to-human.

veinglory said:

I think we have already covered what zoonotic means
zoonotic: goes between human and animal species
zooanthroponitic/anthroponitic: a subset of zoonosis which goes between human and animal species with humans as the main host

Passed only between humans=no word for that, at least not in common use.

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It's not quite as simple as that. Part of the problem is that there are lots of different people working on it (veterinarians, medics, epidemiologists, etc.) and the definitions have become muddled. Zoonotic started life as being strictly confined to animals, then it evolved to include transmission to humans. Thanks to largely to the WHO, it now often means only diseases transmitted from animals to humans. Scientific studies often describe these as anthropozoonotic.

Anthroponotic started out by being a human disease, but has evolved to include diseases that can be transmitted to animals. In scientific studies, these are often described as zooanthroponotic for clarification.

Fascinating thread...

Sorry, not much to add been as this one goes way over my head. Although I understood Human disease. What would be the complication with using something as simple as that?

I hope this isn't too much of a derail, but I recall a medical term: nosocomial, an adjective describing a disease or infection acquired
while at a hospital.

Probably no help, because it can mean something picked up by a feline patient visiting a cat hospital.

Isn't there an enhanced Scrabble set? Bigger board, more letters?

Yes, with 200 tiles and a larger board and an outrageous price. Fun, though.

veinglory said:

OP specified the disease is transferred from human to human, the word for that is human-to-human.

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This is true but if your looking for the technical word to describe a disease transfer then human-to-human isn't comparable to zoonotic. Specific enough because in epidemiology it is assumed that humans are the target organism the technical terms mostly refer to how the disease is transferred from human to human.

If its passed on by the inhalation of airborne mucous droplets transferred during a sneeze it is considered an 'airborne disease'. 'Airborne' here is the term that is comparable to zoonotic. This is what I meant earlier. Should probably have explained that a bit better originally.

Which word the OP should actually use will depend more on the context of what he's writing than on what is the 'correct' answer to his question.

SinK said:

This is true but if your looking for the technical word to describe a disease transfer then human-to-human isn't comparable to zoonotic.

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What I have been saying, as a person who kind of does this sort of thing and frequently has to describe where certain diseases came from and their vectors, is that there isn't any such word in common use. Is that is "wrong" well, um, that's just how it is. If the book is not trying to be realistic OP could invent a word. If not, there isn't one and no amount of repeating the question will change that.