What not all that exotic animal was responsible for a salmonella outbreak?”
About 107 people have fallen sick in the largest salmonella outbreak caused by turtles nationwide and include two girls who swam with two pet turtles in a backyard pool. The 2007-08 outbreaks also affected children the most in 34 states and about one-third of the patients had been hospitalized. Most of the parents were not aware that turtles can carry salmonella. A ban was imposed on selling turtles as pets in 1975 but they still continue to be sold illegally. The number of pet turtles has doubled in ten years from 950,000 in 1996 to 2 million in 2006 as estimated by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Julie Harris, a scientist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the report’s lead author said, “It’s very easy to think of turtles as being a very gentle and nice pet,” but many carry salmonella, without showing any signs. The salmonella present in their feces can reach their shells and body and then spread to people who handle them. During shipping the s
Think of Salmonella infection and most people think about food. The current outbreak of infection traced to peanut butter and last year’s tomato scare put food-borne outbreaks in the headlines but food isn’t always the source for Salmonella outbreaks. Other sources cause problems, too. The most recent ‘Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,’ issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers the reminder of two Salmonella infections that spread beyond state boundaries in 2007. Both were traced to handling live poultry. In Minnesota and North Dakota, 65 people are known to have become sick, with symptoms that included bloody diarrhea, after handling live poultry at a fair, a farm, and a feed store. Eight of these people required hospitalization. Farms and feed stores were associated with another Salmonella outbreak that spread to 23 states, infecting 64 people, that same year. Other points of contamination in that outbreak included a petting zoo and a classroom. So
