Gurnee’s Serpent Safari is being sued by the family of a two-year-old boy who allege the child contracted salmonellosis from a snake at the zoo. The child became ill and was hospitalized three days after visiting the zoo and petting a snake. The boy’s mother got sick shortly thereafter. It’s unclear if the same
Reptiles
Snakes and cakes
My oldest daughter’s latest favourite TV show is Cake Boss, a TLC show about life in a bakery (don’t ask why… I guess it’s better than John and Kate Plus 8). On a recent episode, they were making a cake for a circus sideshow and one of the performers appeared in the…
Lizards on a plane (or greedy idiot on a plane)
Michael Plank, a California resident, was caught at the Los Angeles airport smuggling 15 lizards from Australia. Two geckos, two monitors and 11 skinks were found worth over $8500 and confiscated. The reptiles were strapped to his body inside money belts. It’s not explained how the smuggling was identified, but I imagine wriggling clothes…
Things not to do for Thanksgiving
I heard this on the radio yesterday morning, I kid you not: Butterball has a "Turkey Talk" toll-free helpline, which naturally gets busy around turkey holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Like many helplines, they get stories of every kind, and this year apparently one person called in and asked if it was alright that she…
Family Salmonella outbreak from school reptile
Three Louisville, Kentucky children and their father recently contracted Salmonella from two lizards (green anoles) that the kids brought home from school. Two weeks after the lizards were brought home, the youngest child got sick. Then the other kids and the father got sick.
This outbreak highlights numerous problems:
Schools are not pet stores…
Deja vu all over again: Turtles and Salmonella
You’d think, after countless outbreak of salmonellosis associated with pet turtles, that people would learn and things would start to improve. I guess not. A paper published this week in Pediatrics (Harris et al) described a large outbreak of Salmonella Java associated with pet turtles. Between May 2007 and January 2008, 107…
Salmonella Apapa from a reptile
A recent case report in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology (Cooke et al. 2009) described isolation of Salmonella Apapa from the feces of a 67-year-old woman with abdominal pain. The patient had a history of various medical disorders but no clear evidence of a compromised immune system. She was hospitalized, and Salmonella Apapa was…
More about turtles and Salmonella
In response to recent posts about Salmonella and turtles, a reader posed these questions:
Okay, so turtles and tortoises can carry salmonella. Does that mean that all do?
- Not all, but a lot of them do. Aquatic turtles are probably a greater risk than tortoises.
If a vet analyzes a poop sample from my…
Black market turtles in Baltimore
There is apparently a thriving black market for baby red-eared slider turtles in Baltimore. The sale (and possession) of small turtles is illegal in Maryland, like many other regions, largely because of public health concerns regarding Salmonella.
Over 100 hatchling turtles have been seized in the past 2 weeks. Baby turtles offer a…
Exotic animals in daycares… another bad idea
One more post about illogical and dangerous activities associated with animals and young children and I’ll hopefully get off the subject for awhile. I came across this daycare’s website today. Keep in mind (again) that the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children less than 5 years of age not have contact …