Salmonella Tainted Turtles Linked to 33 State Outbreak
January 25th, 2008 joshua
More than 100 people – mostly children - have been sickened and about a quarter of them hospitalized with salmonella poisoning linked to pet turtles, The Los Angeles Times is reporting.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the information Thursday regarding the largest poisoning of its kind. The pet turtles were sold in 33 states, but mostly in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and Illinois, according to the report.
No one has died during this outbreak, which began in August 2007, but serious symptoms have occurred including acute kidney failure in one victim. Other symptoms include bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping, fever and vomiting. The average age of the victims is just over 7 years, according to the L.A. Times.
A CDC spokesperson suggests that for every report his agency receives (in this case 100) there exist about 30 or 40 people that did not report the symptoms, meaning there could be thousands infected with salmonella.
Small turtles are more prone to carry salmonella in their feces because of the cramped conditions in which they are raised. Regulations controlling the minimum size of turtles that can be sold to consumers is rarely enforced, according to the report. In the article, the case of a three-year old girl from Florida dying from salmonella poisoning early last year was not linked to the same strain as this latest outbreak.
The first cases of this strain of salmonella were linked to two separate patients – one in North Carolina and another in South Carolina – who were swimming in an unchlorinated pool where the turtles were also swimming. Many of the other cases were either turtle owners or someone who knew a turtle owner.
The turtles were purchased at unspecified pet shops, flea markets or from street vendors.
