zoonosis
Americannoun
-
zoonoses
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of zoonosis
1875–80; < New Latin, irregular < Greek zōio- zoo- + nósos sickness, with ending apparently conformed to -sis
Explanation
An illness that can be spread between animals and humans is a zoonosis. Rabies is one example of a zoonosis that's transmitted when a rabid animal bites a person. Some kinds of zoonoses can be directly transferred from animal to human, while others go through a third animal that acts as a carrier but shows no symptoms. If a human transmits a disease to an animal, it's known as "reverse zoonosis." The list of zoonoses includes cat scratch disease, anthrax, avian flu, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The word comes from the Greek roots zōon, "animal," and nosos, "disease."
Vocabulary lists containing zoonosis
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The overwhelming weight of scientific opinion in the epidemiological and virological communities is that the virus reached humans via naturally infected wildlife, a process known as zoonosis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
Public health concerns, including zoonosis and tick-borne diseases, further highlight the importance of careful management in this unique context, where the conservation of a population with a millennium-long history is at stake.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2024
“The prevalence of lab-leak conspiracy is harmful for us to get further funding to continue our research on zoonosis, which is the major threat to the public health in the future.”
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 23, 2023
This is an example of reverse zoonosis that the CDC estimates killed more than half a million people globally.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2023
A zoonosis is a disease that infects animals but can be transmitted from animals to humans.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 25, 2013
In their Perspectives article, Perfecto and colleagues present a novel "agricultural matrix framework" that can be used to examine the relationship between agriculture and zoonoses.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2023
Approximately 75 percent of recently emerging infectious diseases affecting humans are zoonotic diseases, zoonoses, diseases that primarily infect animals and are transmitted to humans; some are of viral origin and some are of bacterial origin.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Her responsibilities included livestock markets, biosecurity and zoonoses - diseases that can move between animals and humans.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2022
But the Current Biology study, and a similar viral outbreak documented in Tanzania, highlighted the threat of what Goldberg calls reverse zoonoses.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 28, 2021
Ultimately, the prevention of zoonoses demands more than practical interventions; it requires a fundamental shift in perspective.
From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2020
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