Safely doing animal rescue - is it possible?

[Guest guest]

Hi. Just a quick background on me: I was infested with bird mites a few years

back and ended up having to move and trash most of my stuff because of the

situation. I'm now at my third residence since this happened and moving helped

tremedously. The problem is, after almost a year of getting eaten alive by mites

in that house I've developed chronic skin problems and more. I notice that

sometimes people standing near me will start scratching on or around their nose.

Once, a dog that had been sitting next to me started scratching behind the ears

and I had never seen her scratch before. On another occasion I stayed a week at

a relative's place. One of their cats slept on my bed one night. It wasn't long

after he started scratching his face. Then he developed ear twitching.

Revolution didn't stop it, so it wasn't ear mites or fleas. I'm almost certain

the cat caught it from me.

I myself have found ways to keep the itching and biting on my own body under

control most of the time. But I really resent that I can't be around animals

anymore. Before this happened I used to work in animal rescue and dog training.

There's a shelter here in desperate need of volunteers but I'm afraid of

infesting the entire place if I spend time inside the shelter. They have dogs

that need to be taken outside and walked, obedience trained, etc. I'm thinking

this might be safe as I'd be outside, moving around a lot. Is there anyone here

who has experience with this or has found ways to be around animals without

spreading it to them?

Thanks for any advice,