I’ve got a pet rabbit – am I at risk of catching Pasteurella septicaemia?
For fit and healthy people, the risk of catching Pasteurella from a pet rabbit (and then going on to develop septicaemia) is so small you may as well forget about it…. You are probably more likely to die from tripping over the rabbit! Obviously, it’s always sensible to take some simple hygienic precautions when handling pets and other animals. • Wash your hands with soap and water after handling animals • Cover any broken skin before handling pets. It wouldn’t be advisable to allow human bodily secretions (e.g. blood, pus and nasal discharge) onto broken skin and if nursing sick animals (or, handling meat or game) the same caution is advisable for animal bodily secretions. With respect to the recent death in Suffolk, it is important to try to put that death in context. One young man has tragically died from in infection that may (or, may not) have come from dead wild rabbits he presumably handled. As far as we can ascertain, this is the first fatality from Pasteurella septicaemia where
