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From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Sleeping with a pet may be comforting, but it may also put people at risk for getting a disease. Veterinarian Heather Bair-Brake of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the U.S. risk is generally low, but:
``The most common risks to pet owners who sleep with their pets include flea and tick bites, ringworm, and skin infections due to mites.'' (7 seconds)
If the pet has those infections, the risk may be higher. The risk if lower if the pet has regular veterinary care, including yearly checkups, vaccinations, deworming, and prevention of fleas and ticks.
Dr. Bair-Brake says young children and people with a weakened immune system should not sleep with pets. Those people find it harder to fight off infections.
A study on pets, people and sleeping is in CDC's journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Learn more at hhs.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.