At least 103 cases have been reported since May 2007, and many of those infected were children under the age of 10, the CDC said.
“Although most reptiles carry salmonella, small turtles are likely to be handled differently than other reptiles,” according to the report. “They thus carry a greater risk of transmitting salmonella to children.”
The report cited children who handled the turtles, kissed them, even putting the reptiles in their mouths.
Apparently even snakes are likely to harbor this same bad bug, so sorry, no more letting your pet rat snake sleep in the bed between you and hubby anymore.
Stumble it!
3 responses so far ↓
1 Dave // Jan 27, 2008 at 12:24 pm
For once I’m rooting for the intrustive nanny state here. If ownership of turtles were banned altogether, wouldn’t that be great news for wild turtle populations!
2 Sally // Jan 27, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Wow– I thought this was an old problem from when you could get those tiny baby turtles in 5 and dime stores. Don’t most states have minimum size limits on turtles in pet trade these days?
But I’m with Dave– far better to leave them in the wild.
3 bluemountainmama // Jan 28, 2008 at 1:51 pm
yuck! i’ll have to watch for that, having a little one.
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