Sleeping with pets perilous

WASHINGTON: Sleeping with a pet in your bed could lead you to illness, according to a new report appearing in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. According to lead researcher Bruno Chomel of the University of California-Davis, pets can carry a variety of illnesses that are potentially lethal to humans. "There are private places in the household, and I think our pets should not go beyond next to the bed," Chomel said. "Having a stuffed animal in your bed is fine, not a real one." Chomel explains that pets can carry sicknesses including plague, chagas disease and cat scratch fever. "The risk is rare, but when it occurs it can be very nasty, and especially in immuno-compromised people and the very young," says Chomel. And though Chomel claims that illness from pet exposure is a real risk, Larry Kornegay, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, says it is an acceptable risk. "The benefits of having a pet, whether or not you sleep with it, far outweigh the negatives, which are quite uncommon," Kornegay says.