Fleas are ectoparasitic blood-sucking insects with the ability to jump, which commonly infest wild and domestic animals (mainly dogs and cats) but also humans.
West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that is maintained in an enzootic cycle between mosquitoes and birds. Humans and horses are incidental dead-end hosts.
Poliovirus is highly contagious and infected individuals shed virus in the faeces and from oral secretions, thus the mode of transmission is person-to-person, both via the faecal-oral and the oral-oral routes.
The transmission of Clostridioides difficile can be patient-to-patient, via contaminated hands of healthcare workers or by environmental contamination.
Rabies is a disease caused by rabies virus (a Lyssavirus). Every year, a small number of cases of rabies is reported in Europe - travel-related or autochthonous.
West Nile virus (WNV) infection is a mosquito-borne zoonosis. The virus is transmitted among birds via the bite of infected mosquitoes and incidentally humans and other mammals may become infected.
Poliomyelitis, also known as polio or infantile paralysis, is a vaccine-preventable systemic viral infection affecting the motor neurons of the central nervous system (CNS). Historically, it has been a major cause of mortality, acute paralysis and lifelong disabilities but large scale immunisation programmes have eliminated polio from most areas of the world.
Plague is caused by the bacillus Yersinia (Y.) pestis, belonging to the family of the Enterobacteriaceae. It evolved several thousand years ago from Y. pseudotuberculosis.
Plague is caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria. Blood sucking fleas transmit the bacteria among animals, and various species of rodents can become infected.