|
 The children with reptile-associated infections were significantly
younger than other kids with Salmonella infections, more likely to
be hospitalized and more likely to have invasive infections that
affected the blood or brain.
“In a household with both toddlers (or young infants) and reptile
pets, there is good reason to exercise reasonable caution,” Dr.
Daniel Murphy of Royal Cornwall Hospital in England told Reuters
Health by email.
Salmonella is a type of bacterium most often linked with food
poisoning, and generally causes symptoms such as nausea and
vomiting. However, noted Murphy, who led the new study, more serious
cases can cause blood poisoning, meningitis and bone infection.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.2
million Americans are infected with Salmonella every year.
People with compromised immune systems, as well as young children
and infants are the most susceptible to infection, according to Dr.
Christoph Berger of the University Children’s Hospital Zurich in
Switzerland, who was not involved in the study.
Murphy and another researcher used data on Salmonella infections in
children under five years old in the South West area of the UK from
2010 to 2013.
They examined the records to determine whether the infected child
had been exposed to reptiles like lizards or snakes and whether he
or she had been hospitalized for the infection.
Of the 175 cases examined, 48 children had been exposed to reptiles.
Among those with reptile exposure, about half were hospitalized –
compared to less than one fifth of the children without reptile
exposure.
The median age of kids with Salmonella cases linked to reptiles was
six months old, compared to about one year among kids not exposed to
reptiles.
The researchers write in Archives of Diseases in Childhood that
there are multiple strains of Salmonella bacteria and the ones
associated with reptiles tend to be different from those seen in
food poisoning, which may explain the more severe symptoms seen in
reptile-associated cases.
[to top of second column] |
Eight of the 48 children with infections linked to reptiles had
blood infections, meningitis or colitis. In comparison, only four of
127 cases not associated with reptiles had such serious infections.
Salmonella is transferred from pets to humans when a reptile
excretes the bacteria out of its gut, Murphy said. This is
especially dangerous for young toddlers, who may be in an “oral
exploration phase” and are more likely to ingest the bacteria, he
said.
Berger recommended hand washing after any contact with turtles and
other reptiles, but also noted that for children under one year,
“there is a high risk for indirect transmission and disease caused
by Salmonella (even if the baby has no direct contact with the
reptile.)”
Murphy and his coauthor caution that as indoor reptiles become more
popular as pets, more children are likely to be hospitalized with
Salmonella infections and doctors need to be aware of this risk.
Murphy recommends that parents of young children with indoor reptile
pets should consider restricting the reptile’s access to the same
spaces the child uses.
Parents of young children looking to get a reptile “should consider
holding off on that until the child is past the oral exploration
stage, stopped crawling and old enough to wash their own hands,” he
said.
SOURCE: http://bmj.co/1tBKYmd Archives of Diseases in Childhood,
online December 22, 2014.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
