# Are human respiratory bacteria species specific?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-human-respiratory-bacteria-species-specific/371945>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 8, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-human-respiratory-bacteria-species-specific/371945 "2006-09-08T17:37:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-human-respiratory-bacteria-species-specific/371945/1 "2006-09-08T17:37:31Z")

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My wife has pneumonia and she is worried about getting too close to our Guinea pigs (our first one died of a respiratory infection).

Can the little piggies catch human germs?

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**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-human-respiratory-bacteria-species-specific/371945/2 "2006-09-08T18:02:40Z")

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I don’t know about guinea pigs, but I’ve been told by both a human doctor and a veterinarian that the usual respiratory diseases for cats, dogs, and humans are indeed species-specific as far as we know now. [The subject isn’t likely to be studied much. After all, who’d be willing to catch a cold from a dog (or a guinua pig) just to prove it could be done? Not I!]

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**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-human-respiratory-bacteria-species-specific/371945/3 "2006-09-09T02:34:15Z")

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My initial thought is this: bacterial pnuemonia yes, viral pneumonia no. This is only because what I’ve read is that viral organisms (I know I know, technically the debate is still open about whether they are living or not), are very specific about the types of cells they can infect. But, something I’m also told is that bacterial pneumonia is tremendously serious and usually recquires hospitalization… so are you sure that this is the case?

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**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-human-respiratory-bacteria-species-specific/371945/4 "2006-09-09T02:36:09Z")

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[QUOTE=bigbabysweets2000]  
My initial thought is this: bacterial pnuemonia yes, viral pneumonia no. This is only because what I’ve read is that viral organisms (I know I know, technically the debate is still open about whether they are living or not), are very specific about the types of cells they can infect. But, something I’m also told is that bacterial pneumonia is tremendously serious and usually recquires hospitalization… so are you sure that this is the case?  
[/QUOTE]

ps, always spell chekk

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**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-human-respiratory-bacteria-species-specific/371945/5 "2006-09-09T12:51:35Z")

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[QUOTE=CookingWithGas]  
My wife has pneumonia and she is worried about getting too close to our Guinea pigs (our first one died of a respiratory infection).

Can the little piggies catch human germs?  
[/QUOTE]

“Are human respiratory bacteria species specific?”  
In general, yes, in the sense that bacteria that are good at causing respiratory disease in animals rarely cause respiratory disease in humans and vice versa. For example, _Bordetella bronchiseptica_ causes kennel cough in dogs but is only rarely isolated from humans while _Bordetalla pertussis_ causes whooping cough in humans but doesn’t bother dogs.

“Can the little piggies catch human germs?”  
Which human germs? I did find a study in which guinea pigs were infected with _Streptococcus pneumoniae_ (the germ that causes pneumococcal pneumonia in humans) but to infect the guinea pigs they put a concentrated culture of _S. pneumoniae_ (~3,000,000,000 bacteria) directly into the guinea pigs’ windpipes.

The best person to answer your wife’s question is the small animal veterinarian who cares for your guinea pigs, but, in general, the risk is probably small and depends on what is causing your wife’s pneumonia. If she is concerned, she can buy and wear an N95 mask when she is close to the guinea pigs.