Campylobacter causes an estimated 1.3 million illnesses each year in the United States and is one of the more prevalent reported diseases in Princeton each year. Most illnesses likely occur due to eating raw or undercooked poultry, or to eating something that touched it. Some are due to contaminated water, contact with animals, or drinking raw (unpasteurized) milk.
Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Lyme disease currently affects more Princetonians than any other disease or illness per year.
Rabies (or hydrophobia), is a viral disease transmitted via the bite of an infected (rabid) animal or by its lick over an open cut. The rabies virus is present in the infected animal's saliva. After a person is bitten by an infected animal, the virus multiplies at the bite site and then travels along nerves to the brain.