By Scott Weese on Posted in Birds,Cats,Dogs,Other animals,Pocket pets,ReptilesThis month’s edition of the Internal Medicine Journal contains an article entitled High rates of potentially infectious exposures between immunocompromised patients and their companion animals: an unmet need for education (Gurry et al. 2017). The study is fairly superficial and there’s nothing particularly surprising in the paper, with results similar to what has been reported in… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Other animals,Pocket pets,ReptilesMy kids come home from school with lots of consent forms. Last week, one came home asking permission to enter Erin into the draw to see who gets to take home their Grade 3 class fish (Lord Bubbles). She didn’t win the draw, but it fit with a recent article in the Toronto Star entitled… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Birds,Cats,Dogs,Horses,Other animals,Other diseases,Pocket pets,ReptilesPredicting the future is a dodgy proposition at the best of times. It’s particularly hard with infectious diseases, which tend not to behave as expected. Yet, it’s important to plan surveillance, education and response. One approach is to assess where certain types of problems are more likely to develop. That can help direct resources (time,… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Reptiles,SalmonellaThe CDC has updated information on the ongoing (if not ever-present) salmonellosis outbreaks linked to pet turtles. At last count, there were 133 illnesses (although it’s likely that this represents a fraction of the people that actually got sick), with 38 of those requiring hospitalization. Forty-one percent (41%) were kids under the age of five, reflecting… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Birds,Cats,Dogs,Other animals,Pocket pets,ReptilesAnimals are not uncommonly found in daycares and other childcare settings. Sometimes, it’s good: animals can be entertaining, animal contact can have various benefits to children, and animals can be part of learning activities. Other times, it’s not: such as the presence of species at higher risk for shedding certain pathogens, poor management that increases… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Reptiles,SalmonellaIn what shouldn’t come as a surprise, I guess, another pet turtle-associated multistate outbreak of Salmonella infection in people has been identified in the US. Despite the fact that the sale of small (<4 inch shell length) turtles has been banned in the US for decades, the law is widely ignored, and kids get sick… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Other animals,Pocket pets,ReptilesThe Public Health Agency of Canada, along with various partners (including the Worms&Germs team), has developed a set of informational postcards and a poster targeting pet owners and prospective pet owners. They emphasize five critical steps for safe pet ownership and provide a visual reminder using infographic icons: WASH (your hands) DISINFECT (contaminated surfaces and… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesTurtles are notorious Salmonella vectors. Because of that, various jurisdictions have rules limiting their sale, particularly the sale of small turtles (i.e. those that young kids are more likely to handle and try to put in their mouths). A recent publication from the CDC’s Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support is a Menu… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesA recent rat bite fever death in a six-month-old Pennsylvania baby raises several issues that parents need to consider. The child died of meningitis and myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) caused by the bacterium Streptobacillus moniliformis. This bacterium is present in the mouths of virtually all rats, and is the cause of rat bite fever.… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesAs reported on barfblog.com (with, as ever, an entertaining title: You see a cute turtle, I see a bug factory: Infant botulism from C. butyricum) a recent paper in the journal Epidemiology and Infection (Shelley et al. 2015) reports an unusual turtle-associated disease. When we think about turtles and infections (especially infections of young kids),… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesA recent paper in Zoonoses and Public Health (Whitten et al, 2014) describes reptile-associated salmonellosis cases in Minnesota between 1996-2011. Like similar reports, the data underestimate the problem because it’s thought that for every documented case, approximately 30 cases go undiagnosed. Regardless, there are some useful findings. Twelve to 30 cases of reptile-associated salmonellosis were… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesNot surprisingly (since bacteria don’t respect borders), the Salmonella Cotham outbreak in the US associated with bearded dragons has also affected people in Canada. Nine cases of human salmonellosis associated with this rare Salmonella strain have been identified, many with a link to bearded dragons. It’s not particularly remarkable, but should be yet another reminder… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesIn some ways, it doesn’t surprise me because it’s happened many times before. However, you’d think that, at some point, things would start to improve. Apparently not. The US CDC is reporting yet another outbreak of salmonellosis associated with contact with feeder mice, that is, mice produced commercially to feed to pet reptiles. Sadly, this… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesThe US CDC is reporting yet another multistate Salmonella outbreak linked to reptiles. This one is an outbreak of Salmonella Cotham that, as of April 21, has infected at least 132 people in 31 states. The story is pretty similar to other reptile-associated Salmonella incidents. 58% of infected individuals are kids five years of age… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesI would have thought this would fall under the realm of common sense, but as the saying goes: Common sense is like deodorant, the people that need it the most don’t use it. A recent report out of Scotland is warning people not to kiss their pet reptiles, in response to four people who were… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesSometimes, people send me links to articles because they think I’d be interested in them. Sometimes, they do it to see what kind of response they can evoke. I’m not sure which one this was: I was directed by a couple of people to a recent post of PLOS’s blog about snakes in classrooms. (I… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesPet aquatic turtles have been implicated in three outbreaks of salmonellosis involving 43 US states over the past year and a half. Disappointing, but not surprising. Disappointing, obviously, because people are getting sick. Disappointing also because these outbreaks have occurred over and over, despite availability of good information on how to reduce the risks. It’s… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesThis isn’t a zoonotic disease issue, but certainly relates to ongoing discussions about keeping exotic pets. A python from an exotic animal store in New Brunswick apparently escaped its enclosure and found its way into an apartment above the store. There, the python killed two boys, 5 and 7 years of age, possibly while they… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesI write a lot about reptiles, and while it’s usually in the context of their biohazardous nature, I actually like them. I’ve owned some before and it’s not outside of the realm of possibility that we’ll get more in the future (I might be safe with that statement since Heather doesn’t read this blog. However,… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesThe fact that Salmonella and reptiles go together is old news. I often get questions about testing reptiles to see if they are Salmonella carriers and I tell people not to bother since even with a negative result, I’d consider the animal to be positive. A recent study in the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesI received an email from a relative the other day with a pet question. I get lots of these, but the surprising part is this relative doesn’t have any pets (and I think is generally of the opinion that pets are okay, as long as they’re not hers). She was asking about turtles. As a… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesThere was a picture in the weekend edition of the Guelph Tribune of a 3-year-old girl with a large python wrapped around her as part of a nature show put on by the Guelph Lake Nature Centre. While I’m certain I’ll face more wrath from the keep-reptiles-in-schools group that is currently bashing me on the… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesI get a lot of emails about this blog. Some are complementary, some… well… not so much. When it comes to the latter group, the most common (and often the most grammatically-challenged) group is raw meat feeders. They’re a constant source of interesting comments about my intelligence and other aspects of my life. Some actually provide… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in ReptilesToday’s Toronto Star has an article about a reptile club in a Toronto Elementary School. Teacher Jim Karkavitsas runs a session every day that teaches students about a range of reptiles. His menagerie has expanded from one snake five years ago to more than 40 different species in his classroom. Some are loaned out to… Continue Reading
