Zoonosis

Definition

An infectious disease transmissible from non-human vertebrate animals to humans. In medical and veterinary entomology, arthropod vectors—particularly ticks, mosquitoes, fleas, lice, and certain true bugs—play critical roles in bridging zoonotic pathogens from animal reservoirs to human populations. Transmission may be mechanical (passive transport) or biological (pathogen replication or development within the vector).

Etymology

From Greek zōon (animal) + nosos (disease), via New Latin.

Example

Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi and transmitted to humans by blood-feeding assassin bugs (Triatominae), is a classic zoonosis maintained in wild and domestic mammal reservoirs.

Synonyms

• zoonotic disease

Related Terms

• Vector
• reservoir host
• anthroponosis
• reverse zoonosis
• mechanical transmission
• biological transmission
• Arbovirus

Usage Notes

Distinguished from anthroponosis (reverse zoonosis), where humans are the source infecting animals. The plural zoonoses is standard in scientific literature. Many emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses, with arthropod vectors implicated in the majority of vector-borne zoonotic pathogens.