Tiny turtles still making kids sick
Growing up in late-1960s suburbia, I had a turtle.
Turtles were inexpensive, popular, and low maintenance, with an array of groovy pre-molded plastic housing designs to choose from. Invariably they would escape, only to be found days later behind the couch along with the skeleton of the class bunny my younger sister brought home from kindergarten one weekend.
But eventually, replacement turtles became harder to come by. Reports started surfacing that people with pet turtles were getting sick. In 1975, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned commercial distribution of turtles less than 4 inches in length, and it has been estimated that the FDA ban prevents some 100,000 cases of salmonellosis among children each year.
Maybe I got sick from my turtle.
Maybe I picked up my turtle, rolled around on the carpet with it, pet it a bit, and then stuck my finger in my mouth. Maybe in my emotionally vacant adolescence I kissed my turtle. Who can remember?
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A report that will be published tomorrow in the journal Pediatrics documents how 107 people in 34 states became sick with Salmonella from the small turtles between 2007 and 2008 – including two girls who swam with pet turtles in a backyard pool.
The paper notes that one-third of all patients had to be hospitalized, and in many cases, parents didn't know turtles could carry salmonella.
Julie Harris, a scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the report's lead author said other cases turned up elsewhere, many involving direct contact with turtles, including children kissing turtles or putting them in their mouths.
I’m familiar with that.
David Bergmire-Sweat, a North Carolina epidemiologist who investigated the Union County case, said he's heard of families letting turtles walk on kitchen surfaces where food is prepared, and babies being bathed in sinks where turtle cages are washed.
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Veterinarian Mark Mitchell, a University of Illinois zoological medicine professor, has been working with Louisiana turtle farmers in research aimed at raising salmonella-free turtles, says the industry has been unfairly saddled with harsher restrictions than producers of human foods also blamed for recent salmonella outbreaks.
Maybe, but people need to eat. They don’t need to kiss turtles.
Doug dreams about flaming turtles
I’ve taken to going to sleep about 10 p.m. and getting up about 4 a.m. That means Amy stays up later, feeds Sorenne a couple of more times, and apparently gets to listen to me babble in my sleep.
This is nothing new. I’ve given entire lectures in my sleep – and I’m just talking about with Amy, not classrooms.
I’ve written about the trauma of only having turtles as pets while growing up. And the recent story in the Baltimore Sun and the terrible response about how those tiny turtles are OK as long as little kids don’t put the entire turtle in their mouths apparently triggered some sort of response.
"I'm supposed to kill 6 of those f***ing flaming turtles"
Amy says she laughed, Doug started laughing, then said, "See, I'm wasting my resources when I'm not doing what I'm supposed to."
Amy, who likes to ask questions when I talk in my sleep, says,
"What are you supposed to be doing?"
"Keeping those f***ing new zealanders in line."
This probably had to do with the e-mails I was sending to New Zealanders Katie and Gary before I went to sleep. Or not.
Tenko the gecko found in broccoli, adopted by family
And I thought I was emotionally deprived ‘cause I only had a cold-blooded pet – a turtle – as a child.
Some kid in Meole Brace, near Shrewsbury, which is apparently in the U.K., found a four-inch gecko in broccoli purchased from supermarket Tesco.
Mother Paula Walsh said,
"My daughter had been cutting the broccoli for lunch when she screamed, 'Mum come quick, come quick - there's something crawling in the broccoli'. I pulled gently and out he came."
The family decided to keep the little salmonella factory and named it Tenko the gecko.
Tesco said its suppliers had rigorous and thorough checking processes but was glad Tenko had found a good home.
Salmonella Poona outbreak in Canada and U.S.
The Public Health Agency of Canada, still smarting from criticism over its absence in the listeria outbreak, decided to show up Sunday night and advise Canadians about melamine, and a North American-wide Salmonella Poona outbreak
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In Canada to date, there have been 6 cases spread across Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia with the same genetic fingerprint, and 14 other suspected cases in Ontario. No one has been hospitalized so far. There have been 48 cases reported in the U.S.
The cause of the potential outbreak is not known at this time. Provincial laboratories and the Agency's National Microbiology Laboratory are conducting ongoing analyses to determine if other Salmonella Poona cases share the same genetic fingerprint as those identified thus far. The number of cases associated with this outbreak may increase as the investigation continues. … The Agency will keep Canadians informed as new information becomes available.
Salmonella Poona has been associated with outbreaks in cantaloupes and turtles. Given the outbreak of Salmonella – strain not yet identified in U.S. reports -- involving pet turtles and up to 100 Americans announced last week, it’s probably the same outbreak.
But with the Public Health Agency of Canada who knows.
Don't kiss turtles.
Stop kissing turtles: 100 US kids sickened in new Salmonella outbreak
Growing up in late-1960s suburbia, my parents thought dogs should run on farms like their dogs had, and cats were a nuisance.
So I had a turtle.
Turtles were inexpensive, popular, and low maintenance, with an array of groovy pre-molded plastic housing designs to choose from. Invariably they would escape, only to be found days later behind the couch along with the skeleton of the class bunny my younger sister brought home from kindergarten one weekend.
But eventually, replacement turtles became harder to come by. Reports started surfacing that people with pet turtles were getting sick. In 1975, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned commercial distribution of turtles less than 4 inches in length, and it has been estimated that the FDA ban prevents some 100,000 cases of salmonellosis among children each year.
Maybe I got sick from my turtle.
Maybe I picked up my turtle, rolled around on the carpet with it, pet it a bit, and then stuck my finger in my mouth. Maybe in my emotionally vacant adolescence I kissed my turtle. Who can remember?
Last week the U.K. noted an increase in reptile-related Salmonella cases. Today, media outlets are reporting,
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A multi-state salmonella outbreak among people handling turtles, that includes California and Los Angeles County, was announced Tuesday by officials at the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health Veterinary Public Health.
Over 100 people, mostly children were infected by the same strain and 24 of them had to be hospitalized officials at the Center for Disease Control reported.
Eleven cases of the infection were reported in Southern California that included eight cases in Los Angeles County, officials at L.A. county Public Health reported.
Many human exposures were indirect. One baby became ill after being bathed in a sink where turtle feces had been discarded. Two girls fell ill after swimming in an un-chlorinated pool where turtles had been swimming.
Reptile firm in Florida convicted for selling turtles
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Turtles do not make good pets. The best people to attest to it would be Julie and William Godwin, the parents of three-week-old Shanna Godwin, who was killed in Feb. 2007 by Salmonella Pomona from a pet turtle in their home. To combat the public health impact of turtle-associated salmonellosis, in 1975 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned commercial distribution of turtles less than 4 inches in length.
It has been estimated that the FDA ban prevents some 100,000 cases of salmonellosis among children each year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report on cases of turtle-associated salmonellosis in humans during 2006-2007, and the report concludes that the ban "likely remains the most effective public health action to prevent turtle-associated salmonellosis."
This week Strictly Reptile Inc. in Southern Florida was convicted for violating the ban on the sale of turtles with a shell length of less than 4 inches.
At least 103 cases of turtle-associated salmonellosis have been reported since May 2007, and many of those infected were children under the age of 10, the CDC said. This makes it quite evident that turtles are still problem pets
in people’s homes.Stop licking the turtles
"Apparently my favorite past-time of licking amphibians and reptiles is a health risk. Thus, it has to end."
Meanwhile, Dr. Raghavendra Rao writes that Jose, 16 months old, was brought to a health clinic by his mother. He had painful mucous stools and cried with each bowel movement.The stool culture report eventually came back; it grew Salmonella group C2.
Having known that this infection usually comes from animals, I inquired the mother whether she had any pets at home. “No dogs or cats,” she said, “but my other son has a small turtle. He plays with it, takes it out of water and puts it back.”
“Give the turtle away,” I advised the mother.
When I was growing up, turtles were inexpensive, popular, and low maintenance, with an array of groovy pre-molded plastic housing designs to choose from. Invariably they would escape, only to be found days later behind the couch along with the skeleton of the class bunny my younger sister brought home from kindergarten one weekend.
But eventually, replacement turtles became harder to come by. Reports started surfacing that people with pet turtles were getting sick. In 1975, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned commercial distribution of turtles less than 4 inches in length, and it has been estimated that the FDA ban prevents some 100,000 cases of salmonellosis among children each year. Maybe I got sick from my turtle.
Maybe I picked up my turtle, rolled around on the carpet with it, pet it a bit, and then stuck my finger in my mouth. Maybe in my emotionally vacant adolescence I kissed my turtle. Who can remember?
I stopped too.
No pet turtles for Xmas
North Carolina is the latest area to be hit -- after five kids got sick with salmonellosis after handling pet turtles.
The North Carolina Division of Public Health and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) investigated the cluster of five cases – four in North Carolina (Burke, Lincoln, Union and Montgomery counties) and one in South Carolina (York County). Four of the children had positive cultures for salmonella. The fifth did not have a positive culture but was sick and had contact with a confirmed case. All five children have recovered, although one was hospitalized with kidney failure as a result of the infection. The children all got sick this past summer.Veterinarians recently tested the Union County child’s pet turtle cage; it tested positive for the same strain of Salmonella that was responsible for the outbreak.
They may appear cute, but reptiles are Salmonella factories. And who knows what kids will do with them.
Pet turtles can kill
William Godwin was quoted as saying, "I felt really bad because I brought them home. I would have never brought them home if I would have known that, she didn't have a chance."
The Godwin’s said their friends bought the turtles at a flea market. And while they've hired a lawyer to help with their complaint against that flea market, Julie says this is not about a legal claim, it’s about getting the word out to all parents.
“I think parents should know that they can make your kids sick and are deadly," she said. ”They should know before they bring them home.”
Since 1975 the sale of turtles with a shell less than 4 inches long is illegal. They can only be sold for scientific, educational or exhibition purposes.
