Sixty-one percent of known disease-causing agents that infect humans can also infect animals [1]. While humans are the primary reservoir for only 3% of zoonoses, detection of zoonotic disease outbreaks remains mostly dependant on the identification of human cases [2]. Very few of the diseases that are a threat to humans are reportable in pets. Over onethird of American households include at least one pet [3]. Pets can present with clinical signs of disease earlier than people after becoming infected at the same time [4]. Pets can also become infected first and act as a source of infection for humans [5]. Detection of an outbreak in pets may then provide for warning of an outbreak that could affect humans.
Objective
This paper describes occurrences of possible co-morbidity in pets and humans discovered in a retrospective study of veterinary microbiology records and through the application of syndromic surveillance methods in a prospective outbreak detection system using veterinary laboratory orders.