Antibiotic therapy usually cures the disease without complications in healthy young adults. Clearing the bacteria from infected cats requires long term antibiotic treatment, however, and cats may be continuously or intermittently infected indefinitely. Again, caution is urged following cat bites and scratches and the potential for the transmission of this bacteria should be another impetus to keeping the cattery free of fleas. Cat Scratch Disease is a fairly common disease with an incidence of about 0.8 cases per 100,000 population. Again, the risk of causing severe infections in immunocompromised pet owners needs to be considered.
Parasitic Diseases are also potential zoonoses.
Roundworm eggs can infect humans, particularly children, through a fecal to oral route. Tapeworm eggs, on the other hand, are not directly infectious to people. Feline strains of coccidia and giardia do not appear to be infectious to humans. Much media attention has been brought to the zoonotic potential of toxoplasmosis, a type of coccidia that can cause birth defects in unborn babies. However, poorly cooked meat is a much more significant source of infection than pet cats.