# Transferring Diseases to Animals **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-diseases-to-animals/555838 "2010-10-02T14:44:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-diseases-to-animals/555838/1 "2010-10-02T14:44:08Z")
I am still suffering from a bad cold, but I plan on going horseback riding this weekend. Any chance of transferring my cold to my horse? I know that horses can catch viruses from other horses… but humans? ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-diseases-to-animals/555838/2 "2010-10-02T18:46:50Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > I am still suffering from a bad cold, but I plan on going horseback riding this weekend. Any chance of transferring my cold to my horse? I know that horses can catch viruses from other horses… but humans? Pretty unlikely, unless you’re sick with an anthroponotic disease. Is your cold actually West Nile virus? Transmission the other way is called zoonotic. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-diseases-to-animals/555838/3 "2010-10-02T19:30:41Z")
You could give your horse cowpox, Duvenhage virus, Horsepox virus, Orf virus, Poliovirus, Vaccinia virus and, according to some sources, conjunctivitis (which has several viral and bacterial causes). And, with an intermediary like a tick, you could give a horse Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, Kunjin virus, Louping ill virus, Rift valley fever virus, Sagiyama virus, Vesicular stomatitis virus or Western equine encephalitis virus. If you bite your horse, you could give it Hendra virus or Rabies virus. Don’t bite your horse. But no, the “common cold” is not contagious from humans to horses, nor are horse colds contagious to humans. Cool database of viruses by host species: [Human viruses table ~ ViralZone](http://expasy.org/viralzone/all_by_species/678.html) Colds and flus in horses, treatment, symptoms and prevention: [Colds and flu in Horses - Health - Horsetalk.co.nz](http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/health/tha-flu.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-diseases-to-animals/555838/4 "2010-10-02T21:30:17Z")
For reasons of your own personal health, I would advise against any sports activity while under the influence of cold or similar. Professional sportlers have dropped dead from heart infarct when they picked up their training too soon after a flu or cold; hobby sportlers often suffer a permanent heart damage (weak heart) for the rest of their lifes by doing sports while still having a flu. The general doctors recommendation is for two weeks until the symptoms are gone before you do strenous things. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-diseases-to-animals/555838/5 "2010-10-02T21:35:10Z")
A lady I know who runs a horse boarding service says that colds are communicable between humans and horses. Thus, colds are an unusual example of a disease we share with other fairly different species. Leastaways, that’s what I hear. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-diseases-to-animals/555838/6 "2010-10-03T00:24:31Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > A lady I know who runs a horse boarding service says that colds are communicable between humans and horses. Thus, colds are an unusual example of a disease we share with other fairly different species. Leastaways, that’s what I hear. She is wrong. I agree with WhyNot; there are very few diseases that cross species between humans & equines, and his list has most of them. Mostly very rare, and does not include the various diseases called the ‘common cold’. And I disagree with constanz, too. The OP’s description of “going horseback riding” sounds like simple pleasure riding. This is nowhere near the stress of an athletic training regimen. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-diseases-to-animals/555838/7 "2010-10-04T02:11:04Z")
Thanks everyone! Great answers. The ride was long (4 hours), but not too physically challenging. I lived to tell the tale.