HABRI Central

Background: Approximately 75 percent of recently emerging infectious diseases that affect humans are diseases of animal origin, and approximately 60 percent of all human pathogens are zoonotic. Contact between humans and pets, livestock, poultry and other animals could enable transmission of pathogens from animals to humans, which is the focus of this study. The aim of this study is to evaluate factors that could affect the chance of having and touching animals and the number of contacts between people.

Methods: Diary based design, social contact survey conducted for collecting information about participants by random digit dialing on fixed and mobile telephone lines. The relative odds of owning and touching animals between groups of a factor was analyzed using logistic regression and the number of contacts between people was analyzed using weighted negative binomial and Hierarchical zero-inflated negative binomial regression.

Results: More than, halve of participants own or touch animals. The mean and variance for the number of contacts were 13.47 and 116.78 for individual survey data, respectively and it was 15.66 and 125.89 for household survey data, implying over dispersed data. The relative odds of owning animals differ substantially through the age, household size and educational level of a participant whereas the relative odds of touching animals differ through age, educational level and owning animal status of a participant. Finally, the number of contacts between people was affected by owning animal status of a participant depending on the weekdays or weekend days.

Conclusion: Participants, who own animals, have the highest chance to touch animals and have a larger number of contacts with people as compared to those who do not own animals such that pathogens will pass and cause illness easily from animals to humans, this may enhance the spread of infectious diseases.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

1. Animal health and hygiene
2. Animal ownership
3. Animal roles
4. Animal welfare
5. Health
6. Livestock
7. Mammals
8. pathogens
9. Pet ownership
10. Poultry
11. touch
12. Zoonoses