41. Handling and slaughtering animals
41. Handling and slaughtering animals
Last update: 2022-09-14
Overview
- Animals such as cattle, poultry (birds), rats and pigs can carry and spread germs that cause diseases.
- Animals can carry germs in their bodies when they are alive and in their meat when they are slaughtered for food. Animal by-products, such as milk or eggs, can also carry germs.
- Animals that have died (including foetuses that aborted or animals that died during birth) can also carry germs.
- To avoid spreading diseases, it is important to wear personal protective equipment and follow recommended hygiene practices when dealing with live or dead animals and their by-products.
Disease | Animals | Transmission |
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Rift Valley fever | Sheep, cattle. other animals. Signs and symptoms in infected animals: abortion; deaths in young. | Transmitted by mosquito bites; droplets in the air; the blood of sick animals; the bodies of infected dead animals. |
Avian influenza | Wild and domestic poultry (birds). Signs and symptoms in infected animals: death or neurological signs; may have no signs of illness. | Transmitted through droplets in the air; feathers; and potentially the eggs and meat of infected birds. |
Monkeypox | Mainly monkeys. Also rats, squirrels and prairie dogs. Signs and symptoms in infected animals: mainly none. Skin sores, breathing problems in prairie dogs. | Transmitted by touching infected animals or their body fluids; the bite or scratch of an infected animal; the meat of infected animals. |
Plague | Mainly rats. Also rabbits, squirrels and prairie dogs. Signs and symptoms in infected animals: none in above. May cause disease in cats and occasionally dogs. | Transmitted by flea bites; droplets in the air; the bodies of dead infected animals. |
Leptospirosis | Cattle, pigs, rodents (mainly rats). Signs and symptoms in infected animals: abortion; liver and kidney disease. None in rats. | Transmitted by contact (through a cut, eyes, mouth etc.); or ingestion of the urine of an infected animal. |
MERS | Camels. Signs and symptoms in infected animals: none. | Transmitted by close contact with an infected animal or person. |
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome | Rodents (mainly rats). Signs and symptoms in infected animals: none. | Transmitted by droplets of rodent urine or faeces in the air; the bodies of dead infected rodents; a bite or a scratch. |
Anthrax | Sheep, cattle (cows) and other animals. Signs and symptoms in infected animals: sudden death in sheep and cattle; neck swelling with breathing difficulties in pigs, dogs and cats. | Transmitted by contact with, or eating, infected animal products; spores in the air. |
How to handle and slaughter animals
Poultry (birds) | Sheep and cows |
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