What are zoonoses?

Zoonoses are diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans. This means that these diseases can originate in animals and have the potential to infect humans through various means, such as direct contact, vectors (like ticks or mosquitoes), or through contaminated food or water.

Understanding zoonoses is crucial, especially in the context of public health, agriculture, and veterinary medicine, as they can impact human health significantly. Examples of zoonotic diseases include rabies, Lyme disease, and avian influenza.

The other choices refer to diseases in more restricted scopes: those that only affect animals or humans do not exhibit the interspecies transmission characteristic of zoonoses, while diseases found only in plants do not apply to either category of animal or human health. Thus, the definition that captures the essence of zoonoses—transmission between species—is what makes the selected answer correct.