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MEDIEVAL JAINISM : CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT
But to alter the eating habits of the developing world will prove as difficult a task as the change over from traditional farming practices using hand tools. Continuing such habits entails persistent exposure to diseases that undermine human and animal health. Since meat and milk are good foods and people prefer them, and since demands for protein of animal origin can be expected to rise, the incidence of those diseases that man acquires from animals will similarly increase.
Much has been written about the complex aspects of human and animal inter-relationships, and it is recognized that both species are subject to a variety of diseases. Of principal interest among these are leptospirosis, anthrax, brucellosis, encephalitis, tuberculosis, hydatdosl, and rabies—the scourge of the centuries.
Leptospirosis is considered to be the most widespread of the diseases transmissible from animals to man. In Americas, over 150 different serotypes of leptospires have been recognized, most of which cause ill health and even death in man. Not only wild animals but also dogs and other domestic animals are implicated in spreading the disease. Perhaps the most dangerous and persistent carrier and spreader of these organisms is the rat, which contaminates food through urinary excretions. Each time a rat urinates, it can deposit up to 18,000 live leptospires in a very small area; these in turn can survive for as long as three months. The association of poor housing, limited water supply, inadequate and improper methods of food storage and waste disposal all combine to make this disease, a significant risk for the poor population in both urban and rural areas.
Animal brucellosis is found in all the countries of the Americas. Financially, its impact is considerable due to production losses and precautionary limitations on the
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