What percentage of enteric illnesses in the United States annually is attributed to animal contact?

• A. 10%
• B. 20%
• C. 25%
• D. 14%

Answer: (D)

Understanding where enteric illnesses come from helps public healthTargeting prevention involves separating cases by exposure route, such as foodborne, waterborne, or animal contact. For animal contact, the burden comes from direct interaction with animals (pets, farm animals, zoo exposures) and handling animal products outside of eating or cooking. The best-supported national estimates place this source at about fourteen percent of enteric illnesses in the United States each year. This indicates that while foodborne transmission is the dominant driver, animal contact accounts for a meaningful, actionable portion of cases.

The other percentages are not as consistent with the overall burden data: ten percent tends to be a bit low for this route, while twenty or twenty-five percent would imply animal contact is a much larger contributor than most national estimates indicate.