Veterinarian warns: dangerous parasites can be contracted from wild berries and stagnant water

Veterinarian Gerlin Järvela explained that summer nature outings and foreign travel can bring serious zoonoses, diseases transmitted from animals to humans. Dangerous pathogens can reach people and pets through unwashed forest berries, stagnant water pools, and street dog saliva. Prevention relies primarily on awareness and basic hygiene.

Summer brings many nature outings and trips to distant places, but they often carry an underestimated risk of contracting diseases transmitted from animals to humans. Veterinarian Gerlin Järvela explained on ERR's programme "Huvitaja" that pathogens do not respect species boundaries and can reach humans and their pets in unexpected ways.

Forest berries and fox faeces hazard

One hidden danger lies in echinococcosis, widely prevalent in Estonian forests. Foxes shed tapeworm eggs into the environment, which go directly onto the soil and vegetation. If a person picks berries or mushrooms and does not wash them carefully with hot water before eating, parasitic eggs can enter the bloodstream. From there, the larvae migrate to the liver or brain, where they form slowly growing cysts. Because the incubation period is long, damage is often discovered only when the situation requires surgical intervention.

The risk is not limited to the forest; foxes and raccoons regularly visit home gardens and leave behind infectious traces. "Exactly the same way, they can leave parasitic eggs in our garden too. If we then go and pick some fresh plum or apple from there, the same cycle can repeat," explained Järvela.

Stagnant water carries leptospirosis

Rodents, rats and mice excrete the bacteria that cause leptospirosis through urine into the environment, from where it accumulates in stagnant water bodies during rainfall. Pets can become infected by drinking from street puddles. "Do not let your animals drink from puddles or stagnant water bodies, because that's where the urine ends up and the bacteria thrives there," stressed the veterinarian. Infected dogs suffer severe liver damage, which manifests as yellowing of the mucous membranes.

The same bacterium directly threatens humans as well. Initially, it causes high fever, muscle pain and severe weakness, which resembles an ordinary cold. It is especially dangerous to swim in small stagnant water bodies, where children may accidentally swallow water.

Indoor cats need monthly deworming

Less well known is the danger posed by cats that roam freely outdoors. Although cats themselves typically do not become ill with leptospirosis, they spread the bacterium further and bring a large number of internal parasites into the home on their fur and paws. "If you have an outdoor cat, it is not enough to deworm it a couple of times a year; this should be done every month," said Järvela. Since cats stay close to people and the transmission route is very easy when cleaning their litter box, regular prevention is essential.

Direct contact with wild animals is not even necessary for infection. "Basically, your pet doesn't even have to be in direct contact with a fox or raccoon. If a wild animal has been somewhere and your pet goes to the same place afterwards, it is quite certain that it will become infected," clarified the veterinarian.

Travel brings the risk of rabies from exotic countries

Travellers abroad face additional dangers. Rabies kills over 50,000 people worldwide each year, a significant proportion of whom are children. Estonia is officially rabies-free, but the virus circulates widely in developing countries. Once symptoms appear, the disease is invariably fatal.

Tourists often pet street dogs and cats in warm countries, unaware that an apparently healthy animal may already be infected. "An animal may well be thin and evoke pity, but that does not mean it does not already have rabies virus inside. If it bites, a sense of danger kicks in, but in reality the actual risk already exists when the animal licks your hand, which has a small scratch or abrasion," confirmed Järvela. In preventing diseases, the primary defence is awareness and basic hygiene, and caution around unfamiliar animals.