1. West Nile Virus

2. Hantavirus

3. Pandemic Flu

4. Avian "Bird" Flu

5. Rabies

6. Tularemia

1. West Nile Virus
West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne disease that can cause a potentially serious illness in humans. Mosquitoes spread this virus after they feed on infected birds and then bite people, other birds, and animals.
WNV is not spread by routine person-to-person contact, and there is no evidence that people can get the virus by handling infected animals. Surveillance for West Nile virus currently includes testing horses at the University of Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory. Suspected human cases are tested in the Wyoming Department of Health's Public Health Laboratory.

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2. Hantavirus
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is a rare disease caused by a virus known as hantavirus. The first symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome are fever, muscle pain, and being tired. This happens 3 days to 6 weeks after a person is exposed to hantavirus. Some people also get headaches, dizziness, vomiting, or diarrhea. After about 3 to 7 days, people who are sick with hantavirus infection begin to cough and have shortness of breath. If someone is sick with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and does not get help quickly, he or she may die.
Wild rodents can pass hantavirus to people. Several different types of wild mice and rats can be infected with hantavirus and pass it in their droppings, urine, or saliva. People can get hantavirus when they touch rodent urine, droppings, or places where these animals have nested. Dried droppings or urine can be stirred up in dust and breathed in by people. Hantavirus has not been shown to infect other kinds of animals, such as dogs, cats, or farm animals.

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3. Pandemic Flu
A pandemic is a worldwide epidemic. Every year in the United States and throughout the world, influenza viruses cause epidemics.
The strains of influenza virus that cause pandemics are different than those that cause epidemics. Virtually no one in the world is immune to pandemic viruses. For this reason, pandemic strains of influenza sweep across the world unchecked. Typically, many more people become ill and die during pandemics.
On average, influenza pandemics occur about three times every century. During the past 120 years, influenza pandemics occurred five times: in 1889, 1900, 1918, 1957, and 1968. Some pandemics are more damaging than others. The pandemics of 1957 and 1968 killed 4 million and 6 million people, respectively. But the pandemic of 1918 was even more devastating - a virus known as Spanish flu killed between 20 million and 50 million people.
To prevent the next influenza pandemic, the influenza vaccine will have to contain the strain of influenza virus that is causing the pandemic, which means an effective vaccine can't be made until a pandemic begins.

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4. Avian "Bird" Flu
Avian flu, or "bird flu," is a strain of influenza that is killing large numbers of poultry in Southeast Asia. In 1997, public-health officials detected a strain of influenza in Southeast Asia that was lethal for poultry such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and quail; the virus killed hundreds of millions of birds. People are concerned about bird flu because before 1997, it had never killed people. Because virtually no one in the world is immune to this virus, it has the potential to cause an influenza pandemic.
Some features of the bird flu are concerning and others are reassuring. The bird flu currently circulating in Southeast Asia is very contagious to birds. There is now evidence that birds infected with bird flu are showing up in areas outside of Southeast Asia, such as Greece and Turkey. Also, the virus has spread to mammals such as pigs, tigers and cats. Finally, bird flu has spread to people - at least 200 people have been infected since 1997. Worse, when the virus infects people, it often kills them. About 50% of people infected with bird flu have died.
On the other hand, it is still uncommon for humans to contact bird flu. And, the yearly incidence of people infected with bird flu since 1997 does not appear to be increasing. Further, people have caught bird flu from infected birds, not from other people. A pandemic will not occur until people infected with the virus are highly contagious to other people. This hasn't happened yet and it may not happen.

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5. Rabies
Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The vast majority of rabies cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention each year occur in wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes. Domestic animals account for less than 10% of the reported rabies cases, with cats, cattle, and dogs most often reported rabid.
Rabies virus infects the central nervous system, causing encephalopathy and ultimately death. Early symptoms of rabies in humans are nonspecific, consisting of fever, headache, and general malaise. As the disease progresses, neurological symptoms appear and may include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation, difficulty swallowing, and hydrophobia (fear of water). Death usually occurs within days of the onset of symptoms.

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6. Tularemia
Tularemia is an infectious disease that animals and insects can spread to humans. Tularemia, also known as "rabbit fever" or "deer fly fever," is a bacterial infectious disease that typically affects rabbits, hares, and rodents. Other mammals, including domestic animals, can also become infected.
People typically acquire tularemia when bit by an infected tick, deer fly, horse fly or  mosquito; by handling infected animals (especially rabbits or rodents); or through ingestion or contact with untreated, contaminated water or insufficiently cooked meat. Human signs and symptoms of tularemia can include skin ulcers, swollen and painful lymph glands, inflamed eyes, sore throat, mouth sores, diarrhea or pneumonia. If the bacteria are inhaled, symptoms can include abrupt onset of fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, joint pain, dry cough, and progressive weakness. Tularemia can be fatal if it goes without treatment, so anyone who becomes ill after an insect or tick bite or handling a sick or dead animal is urged to contact a health care provider.

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