Microbial Guests Present in Animals

12 days ago

There are so many animals we know to have certain infections or diseases and we avoid them a lot but so many people do not know anything about them, so they spend their time around this animals. I am not saying you shouldn't be around them, you just need to know the animals you spend time with and the gift they could probably be giving you especially sexually microorganisms associated with Sexually transmitted diseases.

Koalas are one set of animals that are known for their long time sleeping, "Sleeping like a koala is a term" but people forget to add "You have the chlamydia clap like a koala" because within 50 - 90% of koalas have chlamydia. Chlamydia in human is an STD and it comes with burning sensation, pain, and discomfort. Scientists are looking to help save them from the bacteria and to do so, they vaccinate them with Eucalyptus flavored vaccine.

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Drosophila Melangoaster sigma virus, associated with the drosophila fly or fruit fly and this fly is quite helpful to the fruit-flies especially during reproduction because it makes the males irresistible to the females. While they enjoy the positive side of the virus, they also have to live with the negative side of it which is shortened lifespan. The virus makes its host attractive so it can go on to new hosts during the course of mating but when it gets to female fruit flies, the virus doesn't make them attractive, it just sends them to their early grave.

A lot of us have rabbits in our home, I am even thinking of buying one because of how adorable they are but a lot of them suffer from a virus called Myxomatosis which originated from South America and it causes the rabbits to have swollen eyelids, lips, and ears after which it can lead to the death of the rabbit but a lot of these rabbits are beginning to resist the virus, so when I want to get my rabbit, I will get the one that has the resistance, don't ask how because I will perform a lab test on it (just joking).

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Let me discuss baboons and what they carry around when they move from one group to another or even when they are in those zoos or reverses. They carry Herpes B virus which is a terrible virus with bad news for us humans but for the baboons, they carry with no problem and enjoy their guest all round their lives. Humans can get this virus when they have a scratch or bite from a baboon that is infected, so I usually advise social distancing with baboons.

After baboons, I decided to discuss one of our close relative, the chimpanzees which we share about 98% of our DNA with. They have a lot of STDs just like they love eating a lot of bananas. They have been seen to self-medicate and treat themselves of these STDs and they carry around a whole lot including Herpes, SIV (simian version of HIV-1), Chlamydiales, Trichomonadidae and so on, so when next you see a chimpanzee, thread cautiously.

So when next you see that adorable animal or that one from the wild, ensure you maintain safety precautions first because you might be going home with a gift you didn't intend collecting when you got there and I am not saying valentines gift or Christmas gift, well it could be any of them depending on when you got the transmission but in all, it could land you at the hospital bed.