GPs should turn it around, tips Overgaauw. If you come to the doctor with itching, he or she will never ask if there is a furry animal in the house that is scratching regularly. 'And the cat usually doesn't come to the doctor.' The result is that you get an ointment against your fungal infection, while your kitty infects you again and again.

It doesn't always end with a little itching. One-fifth of all dogs and cats carry bacteria in their mouths that can cause limbs to death in humans. 'There are several known cases of people who were not bitten, but who slept in bed with the dog. That's how the bacteria was transferred after all.'

An American father and daughter got the plague in 2009. 'The Black Death, from the Middle Ages, explains Overgaauw. “The dog had fleas. And they were infected. They slept with the dog in bed.'

3. You get inflammation from animal saliva

What goes wrong in bed is that the sleeping owner lies close to the animal for hours. 'Often with bare legs or a bare torso.' Many of the fungi that pass from animals to humans mainly cause complaints on the arms and the face. This is where the skin has the most contact with the fur.

Speaking of the face, getting licked in the face by a dog or cat is another bad idea. "Anyone can imagine how clean a dog's mouth is?" Overgaauw raises. 'Where has all that tongue been? A dog is in everything with his nose.' No, licking is not fresh. Overgaauw has a long list of bacteria that have been cultured from bite wounds.

They are microbes that cause wound infections, abscesses, blood poisoning, and meningitis. Helicobacters, for example, which we know from stomach ulcers. And campylobacters, which cause food poisoning. About twenty percent of cats carry the bacteria for the so-called 'cat-scratch disease. "If you accidentally wipe their saliva in your eye, you can get nasty eye infections."

Do our pets often make us sick?

Do people often get sick from their animals? That's hard to say. In one study animal lovers are sick more often than people without a pet, in the other less so. 'We all have the flu that lasts a few days. You feel a bit hungover, have a headache, muscle aches, diarrhea.' No doctor will find out exactly where the complaints come from.

'We are probably sickened by our pets more often than we realize,' says Overgaauw. 'They are usually vague complaints.' That does not mean that your loyal roommate has to leave the house. “Don't let yourself be licked in the face. And animals do not have to be in the bed with the owner. They do that because we make it a routine. An animal does not need it by itself.'

There is nothing wrong with a basket for a dog or a cat. And hold back if you wish your animal good night. No goodnight kiss for Diesel.

Course: Sleep better

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