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Your cat could give you surprisingly common ‘beaver fever’
New York Post • • health
Key Points:
- A study of nearly 158,000 cat fecal samples across the US and Canada found that about 1 in 15 cats carry Giardia, a parasite causing giardiasis or "beaver fever," with 1 in 5 of these strains capable of infecting humans.
- Male cats are about 20% more likely to have Giardia than females, and kittens under one year old show the highest infection rates; unfixed adult cats have a significantly higher chance of infection, possibly due to increased outdoor roaming.
- Giardia thrives in cold, wet environments, with winter months showing the highest infection rates in cats, and Midwestern US cats having a 36% higher likelihood of infection compared to Southern cats.
- Human infection typically occurs through ingesting contaminated water or food, or via poor hygiene after contact with feces, though transmission from pets to humans is considered unlikely by the CDC.
- Preventative measures include wearing gloves and washing hands after handling pet waste, cleaning litter boxes and pet items regularly, bathing infected pets, and restricting pets' access to potentially contaminated outdoor water sources.
