Serious Diseases We Can Get From Animals

Rift Valley Fever

Rift Valley fever is a viral zoonotic disease that causes severe disease in both humans and animals and originated from the Rift Valley of Kenya. Human infections result from direct or indirect contact with infected animal organs or blood. Humans can become infected when drinking unpasteurized milk from infected animals. Bites from infected mosquitoes, commonly the Aedes mosquito, infect humans and animals. The incubation period is between two to six days and symptoms include the sudden onset of flu-like symptoms, such as fever, muscle and joint pain, and headaches.

Some patients experience sensitivity to light, vomiting, neck stiffness, and loss of appetite and in the early stages of the disease, it can be mistaken for meningitis. Other symptoms include severe headache, disorientation, memory loss, confusion, hallucinations, vertigo, convulsions, lethargy, and coma. No specific treatment is required for patients with mild symptoms of Rift Valley fever. For the more severe cases, the predominant treatment is general supportive therapy. An inactivated vaccine is available for humans, though the vaccine is not licensed and is not commercially available.

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