Reptile & Amphibian Forums

EUREKALERT (Washington, DC) 22 February 06 Press Release: Snakes poisoned at birth ( Contact: Lucy Mansfield, lucy.mansfield@oxon.blackwellpublishing.com, 44-186-547-6241, Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)
Recently published in Environmental Microbiology
Scientists in Germany have found that a significant route of transmission of Salmonella in non egg-laying snakes is from the mother to the offspring during pregnancy and birth.
One source of human Salmonella infection is associated with pet reptiles and these cases are often serious – sometimes causing septicaemia, meningitis or even death, especially among children and those at risk due to a compromised immune system.
A high percentage of snakes carry the food-poisoning bug Salmonella, but until this study we didn't know whether the snakes became infected through eating contaminated food, or by another route.
Dr Matthias Schröter of the Institute of Public Health, Northrhine Westphalia in Germany said: "This study sheds light into the transmission of Salmonella. Recently there has been an increase in the number of cases of reptile-associated infection with Salmonella. It is important that people who handle snakes regularly or keep them as pets take appropriate precautions against becoming infected. This knowledge will help in the battle against the transmission of this sometimes fatal bug."
Press Release: Snakes poisoned at birth

more people get salmonella from chicken and other poultry than they do from reptiles. i dont see the govt banning any chicken sales under four inches!! this is just another step for the govt to lay down another blanket law. someone need to find a treatment for salmonella in reptiles, if they even really carry it. damn govt conspiracies(sp)
-----
0.1.0 normal corn het hypo,anery
1.0.0 snow corn het hypo,anery,amel
1.0.0 amel corn unknown hets(4ft 8inch long)
1.0 sinacorn
0.0.2 snapping turtles
0.0.1 3 lined mud turtle
1.1 kenyan sand boas
0.1 mbk
0.1 albino nelsons

How many people do you know that keep snakes, that have ever had a salmonella type infection. I know a large number of these people and I cannot think of one that has ever had an issue with this that I know of. I believe the ease of transmission has been highly exaggerated.

Kelly

16 years keeping herps and I have never caught Salmonella or any other zoonosis from them. To what do I owe this? BASIC HYGIENE.

But... From only three years of being a STUDENT in veterinary technology, I have seen more cases of cat scratch fever, infected cat bites, ringworm and other nasty sicknesses that people have caught from cats and dogs.

Salmonella is one of the only significant zoonotic diseases you can catch from reptiles. Cats have 35 zoonoses, dogs have 28 (not all are common).

We're closer biologically to mammals... Other mammals are the real threat when it comes to diseases we can catch from them.

Christina
www.herptiles.net

There is definately a hype about salmonella and reptiles. No doubt it makes grand news, the media gets to combine odd and weird pets with sick and dying people. What more could they ask for?

The cases are documented, and many are very well documented. The serotypes are identical between the pets and the people. Where it initially came from, who knows, but that doesn't eliminate the fact that herps can be transient carriers. There is no treatment for reptiles, that is, you can't rid them of it. Once a carrier, always a carrier. A local herp vet's neice I believe, was gravely ill from salmonella proven to be shared with the pet slider. This is the only first hand account that I know of.

The "fetal" transmission is interesting to know, and I don't doubt it at all, as it is a very common method of transmission for pathogens in general. It's unfortunate that the entire article deviated on a totally non-scientific tangent.

So no, this isn't all crap or a government conspiracy. To answer Kelly directly, yes, I think the transmission is hugely blown out of proportion and there are much less newsworthy threats that indeed deserve more attention than this.

Ian

ps, thanks for posting the article

-