The American Veterinary Medical Association has issued a guide for hunters and game processors explaining the disease risks of handling wildlife.

Suggestions for keeping hunting dogs safe are also offered. The AVMA stresses that the information isn’t meant to discourage people from hunting but to educate them on the risks involved.

First on the list of precautions is to consult a physician if a hunter shows symptoms of a disease or has been exposed to influenza. A weakened immune system leaves the body prone to diseases encountered in the environment such as avian influenza, Lyme disease and rabies (a virus that has currently jumped from brown bats to mammals).

“Quick Tip” sheets and “Backgrounders” are also available on other zoonotic diseases — diseases that can be transmitted from animals to man. Backgrounders include one on swine influenza (HlN1, which notes that influenza viruses from different species can mix and reassort (swap DNA) and a mix of swine, human and/or avian influenza can emerge — H2N3 has been found in mallard ducks.) While called “swine flu”, this 2009 H1N1 flu virus appears to be a hybrid of swine, avian and human influenza viruses with H1N1 recently found in a pig in Minnesota and a ferret in Oregon. The AVMA also has a Canine Influenza virus (CIV) Backgrounder.

The AVMA website is www.avma.org — look in the Public Health section under “Hunters and zoonotic risks.” The AVMA reports that the site has already had hundreds of visitors.