zoonoses and communicable diseases common to ... - PAHO/WHO

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITIONThe fine reception accorded the Spanish, English, and French versions of thisbook has motivated us to revise it in order that it still may serve the purpose forwhich it was written: to provide an up-to-date source of information to the medicalprofession and allied fields. This book has undoubtedly filled a void, judging by itswide use in schools of public health, medicine, and veterinary medicine, as well asby bureaus of public and animal health.The present edition has been considerably enlarged. In the seven years since thefirst edition was published, our knowledge of zoonoses has increased broadly andrapidly, and new zoonotic diseases have emerged. Consequently, most of the discussionshave been largely rewritten, and 28 new diseases have been added to theoriginal 148. Some of these new diseases are emerging zoonoses; others are pathologicentities that have been known for a long time, but for which the epidemiologicconnection between man and animal has been unclear until recently.The use this book has had outside the Western Hemisphere has caused us to abandonthe previous emphasis on the Americas in favor of a wider scope and geomedicalview. Moreover, wars and other conflicts have given rise to the migration ofpopulations from one country or continent to another. A patient with a diseaseheretofore known only in Asia may now turn up in Amsterdam, London, or NewYork. The physician must be aware of these diseases in order to diagnose and treatthem. “Exotic” animal diseases have been introduced from Africa to Europe, theCaribbean, and South America, causing great damage. The veterinary physicianmust learn to recognize them to be able to prevent and eradicate them before theybecome entrenched. It must be remembered that parasites, viruses, bacteria, andother agents of zoonotic infection can take up residence in any territory where theyfind suitable ecologic conditions. Ignorance, economic or personal interests, andhuman customs and needs also favor the spread of these diseases.Research in recent years has demonstrated that some diseases previously consideredto be exclusively human have their counterparts in wild animals, which in certaincircumstances serve as sources of human infection. On the other hand, theseanimals may also play a positive role by providing models for research, such as inthe case of natural leprosy in nine-banded armadillos or in nonhuman primates inAfrica. Of no less interest is the discovery of Rickettsia prowazekii in eastern flyingsquirrels and in their ectoparasites in the United States, and the transmission of theinfection to man in a country where epidemic typhus has not been seen since 1922.A possible wild cycle of dengue fever is also discussed in the book. Is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease a zoonosis? No one can say with certainty, but some researchersbelieve it may have originated as such. In any case, interest is aroused by the surprisingsimilarity of this disease and of kuru to animal subacute spongiformencephalopathies, especially scrapie, the first known and best studied of this group.Discussion of human and animal slow viruses and encephalopathies is included inthe spirit of openness to possibilities and the desire to bring the experience of onefield of medicine to another. In view of worldwide concern over acquired immunodeficiencysyndrome (AIDS), a brief section on retroviruses has also been added, inwhich the relationship between the human disease and feline and simian AIDS isxi