Which one or more of the following diseases is/are zoonotic?

Question

Studying Diseases:

Answer 1

A disease earns the label "zoonotic" only when its pathogen is naturally maintained in an animal population and passes from that animal into humans. The quickest way to answer this question is to ask, for each disease, "does it need an animal host to keep circulating in nature?"

Nipah virus infection: Fruit bats are the natural reservoir of Nipah virus, and people become infected through bats, infected pigs, or bat-contaminated date palm sap. This clearly depends on an animal reservoir, so it is zoonotic.
Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever: Ebola virus persists in wildlife, most likely fruit bats, and outbreaks in humans typically start from contact with an infected animal or bushmeat before the virus spreads person to person. Because the chain starts in an animal reservoir, this is zoonotic.
Cholera: Cholera is caused by the bacterium $\textit{Vibrio cholerae}$, spread through water or food contaminated by human waste. There is no animal reservoir required to keep this pathogen going, so cholera does not fit the zoonotic definition.
Kyasanur Forest Disease: This is spread by tick bites, with forest rodents and monkeys acting as the animal reservoir that keeps the virus circulating before ticks pass it on to humans. This dependence on an animal host makes it zoonotic.

Three of the four diseases trace back to an animal source, while cholera is a human-to-human or water-borne bacterial disease with no animal reservoir needed.

Let's summarize:

Zoonotic means the pathogen's natural home is an animal population, from which it spills over to humans.
Cholera spreads through contaminated water and human waste, not through an animal reservoir, so it is excluded.

So the correct options are (A), (B) and (D).

Answer 2

A disease earns the label "zoonotic" only when its pathogen is naturally maintained in an animal population and passes from that animal into humans. The quickest way to answer this question is to ask, for each disease, "does it need an animal host to keep circulating in nature?"

Nipah virus infection: Fruit bats are the natural reservoir of Nipah virus, and people become infected through bats, infected pigs, or bat-contaminated date palm sap. This clearly depends on an animal reservoir, so it is zoonotic.
Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever: Ebola virus persists in wildlife, most likely fruit bats, and outbreaks in humans typically start from contact with an infected animal or bushmeat before the virus spreads person to person. Because the chain starts in an animal reservoir, this is zoonotic.
Cholera: Cholera is caused by the bacterium $\textit{Vibrio cholerae}$, spread through water or food contaminated by human waste. There is no animal reservoir required to keep this pathogen going, so cholera does not fit the zoonotic definition.
Kyasanur Forest Disease: This is spread by tick bites, with forest rodents and monkeys acting as the animal reservoir that keeps the virus circulating before ticks pass it on to humans. This dependence on an animal host makes it zoonotic.

Three of the four diseases trace back to an animal source, while cholera is a human-to-human or water-borne bacterial disease with no animal reservoir needed.

Let's summarize:

Zoonotic means the pathogen's natural home is an animal population, from which it spills over to humans.
Cholera spreads through contaminated water and human waste, not through an animal reservoir, so it is excluded.

So the correct options are (A), (B) and (D).

Which one or more of the following diseases is/are zoonotic?

Show Hint

The Correct Option is A, B, D

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