Which animals are likely to make you sick?

At least one Minnesota preschooler has contracted a version of swine flu from a sick pig, which temporarily had health officials considering closing the swine barn at the Minnesota State Fair.

Two campers in Yosemite National Park were infected with hantavirus in June, and one has died, public health officials said this month. Both contracted the rare disease after coming into contact with infected mouse droppings.

Mice carry hantavirus. Mosquitoes carry malaria. Dogs carry rabies. Which animals cause the most human disease?

Cows, pigs and chickens.

Some animal-borne illnesses garner media coverage because their symptoms and mortality rates are terrifying. Ebola, for example, causes severe internal and external bleeding and kills 25 to 90 percent of its victims. Other diseases, such as anthrax, are known for their potential as weapons of bioterrorism.

But most of the illnesses we contract from animals are the decidedly less newsworthy diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. According to a study released in July, 2.3 billion people contract diarrheal illnesses annually from animals, usually from eating infected meat, eggs or dairy products. That's more than 10 times the number of people who get malaria each year from mosquito bites.

Malaria kills a higher percentage of its victims, but the annual number of deaths from zoonotic gastrointestinal disease overall is still more than double that of malaria.

The danger of mosquitoes reaches beyond malaria. Dengue infects 50 million people per year, while about 500,000 people come down with chikungunya. Mosquitoes also carry a host of viruses that infect the brain and cause encephalitis, from Eastern equine to West Nile. (The latter is responsible for the current state of emergency in Dallas.)

Rodents also carry an impressive diversity of diseases that can infect humans. Hantavirus infects 175,000 people and kills about 1,750 per year, but isn't the biggest threat. Leptospirosis infects about 1.7 million people per year and kills more than 100,000 of them after bouts of fever, muscle aches, vomiting and kidney or liver failure. (Livestock are partially to blame for leptospirosis as well, because cattle and pigs can carry it in their urine.)

Rats, squirrels and other rodents also carry Yersinia pestis, better known as plague, which still infects two to 10 people in the United States each year. The straightforwardly titled rat-bite fever is another rodent-borne illness with global reach.

Birds are a somewhat special case. Consider, for example, avian influenza. In terms of impact on human health, it's not particularly significant, infecting 100 to 200 people in an average year. As an emerging disease, however, it's of the highest concern. If avian influenza mutates to a form that can be passed from person to person, it would cease to be an animal-borne illness and instantly become a major public health crisis.