PET FROGS CAN TRANSMIT SALMONELLA
October 22, 2010
Pet African dwarf frogs harboring salmonella have sickened at least 113 people, most of them children, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
“This is the first multistate outbreak of salmonella associated with frogs,” says Shauna Mettee, a public health nurse at the CDC in Atlanta who presented the findings October 22 in Vancouver, Canada, at a meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
CDC investigators became curious when doctors began reporting a spate of cases of the typhimurium subspecies of salmonella in 2009. Between April 2009 and March 2010, Mettee and her colleagues identified 113 cases of this infection, three-fourths occurring in children under age 10. The average age of the patients was 5. Symptoms ranged from cramping to severe and even bloody diarrhea. There were no fatalities. Bacteria transmission took many forms. For example, one woman cleaned a frog aquarium in the kitchen sink and subsequently bathed a 3-week-old infant in it, Mettee says.
The researchers traced the infected frogs to a single breeding facility that houses 800,000 to 1 million African dwarf frogs and sells them. Health authorities are now working with the facility’s owner to create a cleanup procedure to limit the salmonella within the animals.
Amphibians and reptiles can carry salmonella bacteria without appearing sick, says Patricia Griffin, a physician and chief of the enteric diseases epidemiology branch at CDC. She notes that pet turtles, which were popular in the 1970s, were found to expose people to salmonella. Small turtles have since been banned as pets, but some street sales continue, Mettee says.
Since March 31, an additional 57 cases of the salmonella subspecies have been reported. Mettee and her colleagues are now checking whether these cases also trace to frogs from the same breeding facility.
I think I choose this article, because when I was little I used to go to the pet store, and see the pet frogs in the fish tanks, and tell my mom I wanted one, and every time we went to the store I said the same thing. Luckily I never got one, because it would have been bad if I had gotten a frog and had salmonella. I think I chose this article because it interested me on how a frog that seems harmless and that is kept as a pet, could make such harm to you, like getting salmonella. I think I also thought of this article, because it took me back all this years of wanting a pet frog, but I think I don’t want it anymore. I really think that people should be aware of this, because I see lots and lots of people buying salamanders, and frogs, and amphibians, without the knowledge that they might give them a disease, so I think people should read the news a little better, just to know what’s going on.
October 22, 2010
Pet African dwarf frogs harboring salmonella have sickened at least 113 people, most of them children, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
“This is the first multistate outbreak of salmonella associated with frogs,” says Shauna Mettee, a public health nurse at the CDC in Atlanta who presented the findings October 22 in Vancouver, Canada, at a meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
CDC investigators became curious when doctors began reporting a spate of cases of the typhimurium subspecies of salmonella in 2009. Between April 2009 and March 2010, Mettee and her colleagues identified 113 cases of this infection, three-fourths occurring in children under age 10. The average age of the patients was 5. Symptoms ranged from cramping to severe and even bloody diarrhea. There were no fatalities. Bacteria transmission took many forms. For example, one woman cleaned a frog aquarium in the kitchen sink and subsequently bathed a 3-week-old infant in it, Mettee says.
The researchers traced the infected frogs to a single breeding facility that houses 800,000 to 1 million African dwarf frogs and sells them. Health authorities are now working with the facility’s owner to create a cleanup procedure to limit the salmonella within the animals.
Amphibians and reptiles can carry salmonella bacteria without appearing sick, says Patricia Griffin, a physician and chief of the enteric diseases epidemiology branch at CDC. She notes that pet turtles, which were popular in the 1970s, were found to expose people to salmonella. Small turtles have since been banned as pets, but some street sales continue, Mettee says.
Since March 31, an additional 57 cases of the salmonella subspecies have been reported. Mettee and her colleagues are now checking whether these cases also trace to frogs from the same breeding facility.
I think I choose this article, because when I was little I used to go to the pet store, and see the pet frogs in the fish tanks, and tell my mom I wanted one, and every time we went to the store I said the same thing. Luckily I never got one, because it would have been bad if I had gotten a frog and had salmonella. I think I chose this article because it interested me on how a frog that seems harmless and that is kept as a pet, could make such harm to you, like getting salmonella. I think I also thought of this article, because it took me back all this years of wanting a pet frog, but I think I don’t want it anymore. I really think that people should be aware of this, because I see lots and lots of people buying salamanders, and frogs, and amphibians, without the knowledge that they might give them a disease, so I think people should read the news a little better, just to know what’s going on.
