Zoonosis
infectious disease that can be transmitted from one animal species to another (or human)
A zoonosis ( ; pl.: zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a virus, bacterium, parasite, fungus or prion) which is transmitted from a non-human animal to a human. When humans infect non-humans, it is called reverse zoonosis or anthroponosis.
Major modern diseases such as Ebola and salmonellosis are zoonoses. HIV was a zoonotic disease transmitted to humans in the early part of the 20th century, though it has now evolved into a separate human-only disease. Human infection with animal influenza viruses is rare, as they do not transmit easily to or among humans. However, avian and swine influenza viruses in particular possess high zoonotic potential, and these occasionally recombine with human strains of the flu and can cause pandemics such as the 2009 swine flu. Zoonoses can be caused by a range of disease pathogens such as emergent viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites; of 1,415 pathogens known to infect humans, 61% were zoonotic. Most human diseases originated in non-humans; however, only diseases that routinely involve non-human to human transmission, such as rabies, are considered direct zoonoses.
Zoonoses have different modes of transmission. In direct zoonosis the disease is directly transmitted between non-humans and humans through the air (influenza), bites and saliva (rabies).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Zoonosis” is infectious disease that can be transmitted from one animal species to another (or human). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Zoonosis, infectious and disease, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “infectious disease that can be transmitted from one animal species to another (or human)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q182672. The Library of Congress control number is sh85150001. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009.
A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Zoonosis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.