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- Chagas Disease. Chagas disease is a parasitic disease that occurs most often in Latin America but sometimes crops up in the southern United States. It can resolve in a short time with symptoms like swelling, fever, rash, fatigue, headache, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting.
- Coccidiosis. This is a parasitic intestinal disease spread by feces or ingesting the flesh of an infected animal. Diarrhea is the main symptom. Strains of the disease are to some extent species-specific, but an opossum can carry several different strains.
- Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM) As the name indicates, EPM is a neurological disease that infects horses Opossums pick up the disease by eating carrion of infected birds, rodents, or other animals.
- Flea-Bourne Typhus. A bacteria spread by infected fleas is responsible for flea-borne typhus. Animals and people can become infected by flea bites or by breathing in nearly microscopic flea dirt (feces) or rubbing it into their eyes accidentally.
- Do Possums Carry Disease?
- Diseases Possums Carry
- Summary
- Resources
Possums carry various diseases that can affect humans and pets. This, perhaps, is the most dangerous thing about them. For more clarity, possums do not carry “diseases” per se. However, they are hosts to various germs and pathogens, which cause diseases. The transmission of these pathogens and germs to humans happens when humans touch infected urin...
Leptospirosis
Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease – in other words, it is a disease that can affect both animals and humans. Exposure to the bacterial pathogen, Leptospira spp., causes this disease. Leptospirosis may be symptomatic or asymptomatic (showing no symptoms) in humans. The symptoms are sometimes non-specific as they resemble the symptoms of other diseases. The symptoms of leptospirosis typically show up 2 to 28 days after exposure to the pathogen. The illness is usually sudden, and it happens in...
Tularemia
Tularemia is a disease, which is also caused by a bacterial pathogen. It affects both humans and animals. Bunnies, hares, and rodents are particularly susceptible to it. Tularemia is highly transmissible. You can get it just by handling an infected possum. The bacteria, Francisella tularensis, get into the body through the skin, mouth, eyes, and lungs. Transmission through the lungs may occur when you run over an infected possum or possum carcass with a farming or landscaping machine. The aer...
Chagas Disease
Chagas Disease also goes by American Trypanosomiasis. It is a parasitic infection transmitted by a bug (Triatomine Bug) you may find on possums. Triatomine bug carries Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite which causes Chagas Disease. You may get Chagas disease if you touch the urine or feces of infected possums. Symptoms of the infection include fever, headache, paleness, muscle aches, stomach ache, chest pain, and breathing difficulties. In the chronic phase, infected persons may suffer heart, ne...
Possums carry various disease-causing agents (pathogens) from bacteria to viruses, protozoan parasites, and ectoparasites. These pathogens cause various diseases when transmitted to humans, and some of them affect pets too. Many of these diseases are treatable, but you should avoid getting them in the first place.
- Coccidiosis. Coccidia, a microscopic parasite found in opossum feces, spreads the disease known as coccidiosis. While opossums are immune to the disease, they are carriers and spread it to other animals, including pets, especially dogs and humans.
- Toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection that opossums can carry and transmit through their feces. Contact with healthy individuals rarely causes notable symptoms, but it poses a severe risk for pregnant women and immunocompromised persons.
- Leptospirosis. Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection spread through contact with opossum urine or contaminated water. Both pets and humans can contract this disease through contact with infected fluids or ingesting contaminated food or water.
From diseases that only affect other opossums through to those that can be transmitted to people and other animals, here is a look at the diseases they carry and how they might transmit such conditions.
Jun 13, 2017 · With the huge rise in deer tick populations and the spread of Lyme disease, many friends of wildlife are welcoming opossums into their yards. Why? Scientists have learned that opossums act like little vacuum cleaners when it comes to ticks – with a single opossum hoovering up and killing an estimated 5,000 ticks in a season.
The original article (please see "Possum Tales Vol 6, No.1) discusses its general pathogenesis; both describe the appearance of lesions in its various forms. This update section reinforces the necessity for early recognition and outlines effective treatment and appropriate monitoring.
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Apr 30, 2019 · Opossums, just like any other wildlife species, can carry disease. Most are transmitted through contact with their urine or feces and include leptospirosis, salmonella, toxoplasmosis, and coccidiosis which can affect people and domestic animals.
