Cats cost Australia A$6 billion a year by spreading diseases

By Donna Lu

Diseases transmitted by cats cost the Australian economy more than A$6 billion (£3.3 billion) annually through their impact on human health and livestock production.

Sarah Legge at Australian National University in Canberra and her colleagues have analysed the economic impact of cat scratch disease, in which a scratch or bite can cause an infection of the bacterium Bartonella henselae, and toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease.

The researchers estimate that these diseases and others spread by cats to humans cost the Australian economy $6.06 billion annually in medical …