Zoonoses are diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. The agents responsible for zoonoses can be bacteria, viruses, parasites or prions.
About 75% of the emerging human diseases recognized in recent decades have a zoonotic origin.
Zoonoses can be transmitted through the consumption of contaminated foods (salmonellosis, listeriosis), through vectors, such as ticks and mosquitoes (Lyme disease, West Nile fever), or direct or indirect contact (anger, avian flu).
The Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS, the National Institute of Health in Italy) carries out research and surveillance activities on zoonoses, and in collaboration with the Istituti Zooprofilattici Sperimetali (experimental zooprophylactic institutes).
