The term zoonosis is used to describe infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa. Zoonoses are caused by pathogens, i.e. bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi or other biological entities, such as prions. These agents can enter a host’s tissues through various routes and then multiply, triggering a reaction in the infected organism.

Zoonoses pose a threat to public health, particularly in a globalized world where contact between humans and domestic or wild animals is more and more frequent, driven in part by industrialization, urbanization and deforestation.

An introduction to the concept of zoonosis in this video produced by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe), an Italian public health institute and research organization in the fields of animal health, food safety and zoonoses.