Alleging that a 2-year-old boy contracted salmonella after touching a snake at Serpent Safari in Gurnee, a McHenry County family has filed a lawsuit against the reptile zoo that seeks more than $50,000 for medical expenses.
According to the suit filed this month in Lake County Circuit Court, Trevor Wirtz visited Serpent Safari on Dec. 14, 2007, became ill and was hospitalized with salmonellosis three days later. He then passed the infection on to a caregiver, Judith Penoyer, court documents say.
Trevor's mother, Sara Wirtz, who filed the lawsuit, declined to comment Wednesday without her attorney's permission. She and her mother, Penoyer, are represented by Michael Maher, who could not be reached.
The lawsuit accuses Serpent Safari of negligence for failing to post notices regarding hand-washing after handling reptiles and for not providing hand sanitizer for patrons. The business also failed to provide warnings regarding the risk of contracting salmonella from reptiles for children younger than 5, as well as the risk to people with weakened immune systems, the lawsuit states.
The employees "allowed and encouraged a 2-year-old child to touch or pet a snake," according to the court document.
Serpent Safari is an indoor reptile park in Gurnee Mills mall, where snakes and other reptiles are displayed, handled and sold. An employee on Wednesday said the owner was not available to comment.
According to the Wirtz lawsuit, Trevor was admitted to the Northern Illinois Medical Center (now called Centegra Health System) in McHenry on Dec. 17, 2007, where he was diagnosed with a salmonella infection. Penoyer became sick during the same period and was hospitalized on Jan. 7, 2008, with the same infection, court documents state.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs and other reptiles can carry salmonella, bacteria that cause infection of the gastrointestinal tract.
Most people suffer diarrhea, fever and stomach pain within three days of infection. These symptoms usually go away after a week, but sometimes the illness becomes more severe and infects other organs.
An estimated 70,000 people nationwide are infected annually with the illness from contact with reptiles, the CDC said.
The CDC this month issued an alert that pet water frogs caused a salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 83 people in at least 31 states, including Illinois, from April through December.
Tribune reporter Angie Leventis Lourgos contributed to this report. lblack@tribune.com
www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-snake-suit-31dec31,0,3797568.story
