# Are there any human-specific diseases? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 1, 2021, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439 "2021-07-01T16:36:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/1 "2021-07-01T16:36:08Z")
Pretty straightforward. A Google search turned up lots of articles on zoonotic diseases, and an interesting lecture on heart disease in chimps versus humans, but I am looking for organisms which can only reproduce within a human host, and no other organism. All replied gratefully acknowledged. Thanks. -bizz ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/2 "2021-07-01T16:46:43Z")
According to the CDC “Animals do not get or spread measles.” > **[Measles is Easily Transmitted](https://www.cdc.gov/measles/transmission.html)** > > Infected people can spread measles through coughing and sneezing. That was the first disease I tried looking for information on. I’m sure there are others. On the other hand the USDA lists measles as a disease primates can get from humans, so the CDC is probably only “thinking” about pets. [https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal\_welfare/downloads/meetings/nhp/AC-CAW-NHP-KSudemeyer-Preventative-Health-Care-of-Primates-In-Captivity.pdf](https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/downloads/meetings/nhp/AC-CAW-NHP-KSudemeyer-Preventative-Health-Care-of-Primates-In-Captivity.pdf) Most human diseases can probably infect Bonobos, Chimpanzees and Gorillas. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/3 "2021-07-01T16:46:57Z")
Smallpox was such a disease - that’s one reason why it could be eradicated A useful phrase to Google is “no animal reservoir” which finds this article [Candidate Viral Diseases for Elimination or Eradication](https://www.cdc.gov/Mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su48a17.htm) listing rubella, measles and hep b as other examples ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/4 "2021-07-01T16:48:46Z")
Thanks for the speedy replies and keyword suggestion. You guys rock. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/5 "2021-07-01T16:55:07Z")
From the [CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/meas.pdf) _ **Reservoir** _ Measles is a human disease. There is no known animal reservoir, and an asymptomatic carrier state has not been documented. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/6 "2021-07-01T16:55:54Z")
> [@naita](#): > > According to the CDC “Animals do not get or spread measles.” True, and yet [human measles vaccine protects dogs from canine distemper virus](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7846822/). ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/7 "2021-07-01T16:59:07Z")
> [@bizzwire](#): > > I am looking for organisms which can only reproduce within a human host, and no other organism. If you would accept organisms that reproduce _upon_ a human host, lice are species specific. The ones that live on humans don’t live on other animals. I believe some but not all STDs are human-specific as well. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/8 "2021-07-01T17:00:50Z")
Oooohhh…good one, Iamthewalrus! ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/9 "2021-07-01T17:58:29Z")
I think leprosy is just humans and armadillos. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/10 "2021-07-02T02:51:36Z")
Polio also has no known animal host, which is why it’s also potentially eradicable. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/11 "2021-07-02T03:03:28Z")
Looks like we can add [cholera](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholera#cite_note-WHO2010-2) to the list. Thanks, everyone. My ignorance has been fought. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-human-specific-diseases/945439/12 "2021-07-02T12:33:07Z")
Note that, for a lot of these, there’s going to be some other, closely-related virus that does affect some animal or other. There may even still be strains that do affect both, but the human-only strain is much more common in humans than the shared strain, and gets regarded as a different species. For instance, the smallpox that we eradicated is human-only, but it’s closely related to a disease that affects both humans and cows. You could say that they’re two separate diseases, or you could say that they’re both variants of the same disease, and we’ve only partly eradicated it. Definitions of distinct species get pretty fuzzy, when you’re talking about viruses.