Tiny Turtles Spread Joy, Salmonella
Turtles remain a popular pet with kids. In 1975 the U.S. banned the sale of ones smaller than 4 inches, but the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) estimates almost 2 million were being kept as pets as of 2006. They're also responsible for one of the slowest outbreaks of salmonella we've seen in recent years.
The website Attorney At Law notes:
The AVMA said the current outbreak of salmonella, which began in 2007, has sickened 107 people in 34 states, with about one-third of those affected requiring hospitalization for the illness. So far, there have been no deaths linked to salmonella spread by turtles kept as pets, officials said.
...and from MSNBC:
The 2007-08 outbreak involved mostly children in 34 states; one-third of all patients had to be hospitalized. In many cases, parents didn't know that turtles can carry salmonella.
The easiest way to avoid this is to not buy your kid a pet turtle. For those of you who have no intention of following that advice, just try to keep your turtle and your child from getting too intimate:
- don't let your child swim with the turtle (that's how two children got sick);
- don't let your child put the turtle in her mouth (which is actually why the ban on small turtles was enacted in the first place);
- don't let your turtle walk across food preparation surfaces, like kitchen counters;
- don't bathe your baby in a sink where you've washed the turtle cage.
"Salmonella Outbreak Traced to Pet Turtles" [Attorney At Law]
"Pet turtles sickened children in 34 states" [MSNBC]
(Photo: reggie35)
Post a comment
Comments:
Salmonella in a half shell... Turtle Power!
I like turtles
@Laura Northrup: Jamie-Lynn Sigler didn't that one time on the plane...
Cyber cookies for getting that reference.
160 degrees fahrenheit seems to do the trick as well
Does anyone recall the book Double Fudge by Judy Blume? When Fudge ate Peters turtle?
I don't have a point, this just reminded me of that.
WHY WON'T IT STOP STARING AT ME?!
Seriously - that pic is going to haunt me tonight.
It's not so much that turtles are responsible for the outbreak as their caretakers have no idea how to care for a reptile. Pretty much any reptile you keep as a pet can carry Salmonella.
If you treat your turtles as cats covered in raw chicken, then you'll be fine.
I also dislike the ban on selling small turtles, as it has pushed the ridiculously cute baby turtle market underground into the very unsanitary conditions that caused the 70s outbreak.
@pb5000: Me too. I think salmonella is a good trade-off for have one of those guys, or maybe two of them. Cuff and Link.
@Chris Walters: I am a sweet, soft-hearted person with an evil sense of humor. It leads to strange situations.
107 out of 2 million does not seem like a major outbreak...it seems like a handful of cases.
Are statistics supposed to be inherently scary?
Don't _all_ animals have the salmonella bacteria in them in some small quantity? The danger of salmonella in turtles comes from them swimming in their feces. Keeping a properly cleaned environment for them and washing your hands after holding them is more than enough to prevent getting sick.
I'd be interested in statistics on how many people get salmonella from undercook chicken and eggs, which I'm sure is orders of magnitudes more than from turtles.
@pb5000: I have to differ there. I hate turtles. I appreciate them as a contribution to my planet, but I can't imagine why anyone would want one as a pet. I also don't like reptiles in general, though geckos I like.
So, they had to ban the sale of turtles because people are too stupid to: not let very young kids touch the turtle, not make the older kids wash their hands after touching the turtle, not put an animal that swims in its own shit water walk around on the kitchen counter, and generally not know anything about the animal they just bought?
just wanted to make sure I got it.
@The Porkchop Express: and really you should wash your hands before and after messing around with an animal for both you and the animal.
I don't get this one.
Why is it anyone's business if I want to buy/keep a turtle? If I'm too big an idiot to 1) not let my small child put it in its mouth, 2) not let it walk around on my cutting board while I'm making a salad, 3) not bathe it in the same tub I bathe my baby...
I would say that's the definition of natural selection.
Get a tortoise as a pet, they don't transfer salmonella.
@chrialg6 is a happy effing cupcake: That wasn't Double Fudge (which I've never heard of). That was Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. In SUPERFUDGE, Peter got a dog and named it Turtle. In Fudge-a-mania, all sorts of shenanigans go on at a vacation house Peter has to share with his arch nemesis, Sheila Tubman.
Well, like, if we cook them really thoroughly is it still okay to eat?
@JGKojak: It's not really natural selection if your actions injure someone ELSE ie. the demon spawn/crotch dropping that suffers from your mistake.
@The Porkchop Express: Yeah and people are too stupid to realize that rabbits can bite. It pains me when I see so many of them for adoption, probably because some idiot thought it would make a good pet for a 6 year old.
@chrialg6 is a happy effing cupcake:
Yes, this is addressed in the sequel Fudge is Dead From Salmonella Poisoning.
:)
In 1975 the U.S. banned the sale of ones smaller than 4 inches
Except for that huge loophole where you say it's for educational purposes...then you can get the small turtles...
/not complaining, I got a turtle from when it was about 1in and kept it for about 5 years, then gave it to a family that wanted to adopt it (it took two hands to pick it up at that point), but I knew how to not get salmonella.
@Laura Northrup: Funny!
But after getting stung by jellyfish, and then learning that (sea) turtles eat jellyfish, I will never eat a turtle ever again!
@12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich: We had turtles when I was a kid. We were also instructed to scrub our hands like a surgeon after handling them. I guess the rub comes when very little kids get hold of them, and then pick their nose before they can be hustled to the sink. Also, the idiots who put their kids with the turtles in a backyard wading pool, knowing the turtles would poop in the pool while the kids had their face in the water... Hey, the toddlers might poop in the pool too though. I guess it's never safe...
@lmarconi: The count equals those cases connected to a turtle. How many doctors these days would ask if you got a turtle at home? I suspect there are silent cases
@The Porkchop Express: I'm not sure how old you are -- but from my experience, the turtles sold back then for a dollar or so were exactly the size of a Hot Wheels car, but not as durable. They lasted about a week before the shell got soft and then they experienced a toilet flush. Parents then realized it's ok to expose your kids to dirt and some germs. In fact, dirt and germs are generally good for a kid.
Except salmonella which is why we have a ban Go it?
@Hoss: This is why Greg House is my GP. Whenever I get sick, he breaks into my apartment to see what made me sick.
@dorianh49: the only amphibians are frogs, salamanders, and caecilians, weird wormy looking things. Amphibians are the ones with thin skin (they breathe across their skin). Reptiles have scales. That's one simple way to tell them apart.
@Starfury: All reptiles can carry salmonella. This was the first thing I was taught when I started working with herps. I was forced to read an article about some dumbass parents who let their kid play with their large snake. The kid later came down with salmonella after wandering around the area where the snake had crapped and then sticking its hands in its mouth. It was supposed to be eye-opening that reptile crap was dangerous, but I remember looking at my advisor going, "WTF is wrong with these parents?"
@JGKojak: because it's a public health issue. you and your turtle are not the only people who walk this earth. of course, that argument propbably won't go very far with someone who cites natural selection.
"don't let your turtle walk across food preparation surfaces, like kitchen counters"
No one has commented on the grossness that is this? And I'm one of the self-proclaimed lovers of herps here. My pets, whatever they are, should not be on the food prep surfaces (though, yes, Kimaroo, I know kittys are hard to control, and I'll give a little more leeway there - my point being your turtle doesn't simply scamper playfully across the kitchen counter).
Is it okay if you cook the turtle before putting it in your child's mouth?