zoonosis
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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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:
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
I mean, I knew about brucellosis because I did the audio books, so I'd come across that, but I didn't know that zoonosis part about it jumping from species to species.
From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2024
Captive bat studies could also help clarify the risk of what’s called reverse zoonosis, in which humans or other animals infect bats with pathogens they could spread far and wide.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 4, 2023
Newspapers and cable news shows have long treated the lab-leak and zoonosis theories as somehow equivalent, often by asserting that both suffer from lack of evidence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2023
A zoonosis is a disease that infects animals but can be transmitted from animals to humans.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 25, 2013
Bats and mice are generally known sources of zoonoses, defined as infections or diseases that are transmissible from animals to humans.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2023
Her responsibilities included livestock markets, biosecurity and zoonoses - diseases that can move between animals and humans.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2022
Peter Ben Embarek, an expert in food safety and zoonoses at the World Health Organization, calls the government’s decision to cull a “brave” and “dramatic” step.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 11, 2020
Many zoonoses — rabies, Lyme, anthrax, mad cow disease, SARS, Ebola, West Nile, Zika — loom large in public consciousness; others are less familiar: Q fever, orf, Rift Valley fever, Kyasanur Forest disease.
From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2020
Many were zoonoses that appeared with the domestication of animals, as in the case of tuberculosis.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 25, 2013
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
