Do the pathogens make us more ill than they do to the animals, more, or equal?

Question: Do the pathogens make us more ill than they do to the animals, more, or equal?
- Keywords:
  animal,
  ill,
  pathogen,
  sick
Asked by Vicky to Carmen on 9 Mar 2015.
- Carmen Denman answered on 9 Mar 2015:
  
  That is a tricky question, and there are lots and lots of factors to consider Vicky. I will use an interesting example though to show you a case of something that doesn’t make an animal sick, but does make humans sick.
  
  Campylobacter jejuni is the major cause of food poisoning in the UK and is a very serious gastrointestinal disease (usually we get better after getting Campylobacter, but it is still not fun to get). We catch Campylobacter from uncooked chicken- this bacteria lives as a ‘commensal’ on chickens and doesn’t make them sick at all. If we don’t cook the chicken really well the bacteria living as a commensal on the chicken is still alive, and can make us sick. A lot of researchers are interested in what makes us and the chickens so different that they don’t get sick but we do. Interesting stuff!!
  Carmen 🙂

Question: Do the pathogens make us more ill than they do to the animals, more, or equal?