United States: Tiny turtles are behind a recent outbreak of salmonella, with 51 cases reported across 21 states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nearly half of these cases were severe enough to need hospital care, but thankfully, no one has died.’
Most Affected: Babies and Young Children
Babies and young children are most affected, with 10 patients under 1 year old and 17 patients under 5 years old, who got sick after handling the baby turtles.
As reported by HealthDay, Federal law bans the sale of the small turtles as pets but despite the ban some of the online retailers’ pet stores roadside markets continue to sell small turtles and said the agency.
Ongoing Issue Despite Federal Ban
And, this is not the first time that this salmonella outbreak is related to these small turtles cause in the summer of 2022 a similar outbreak which hospitalized at least five people, and that particular outbreak was linked to the turtles ordered from the online retailer.
So, this particular salmonella infection includes diarrhea fever and stomach cramps that develop sometime between the six hours and six days after the exposure to the bacteria.
Symptoms and CDC Recommendations
So, this illness usually lasts for about four to seven days and though some of the people will develop severe symptoms requiring hospitalizations and the younger children of minimum 5 and adults of 65 and older and older people with the weakened immune systems are especially very vulnerable.
The CDC advises not to buy turtles with shells that are less than 4 inches long and the agency says that turtles longer than 4 inches should be purchased only from the reputable pets’ stores or rescues here.
Also, there are some CDC’s other recommendations.
1. Please don’t get a turtle if you are in a group of more vulnerable to salmonella.
2. Stay healthy by always washing your hands even after touching them and caring for them and feeding and caring for your turtle and make sure that your children are also washing their hands well after handling the turtle.
3. If you have a pet turtle and you don’t want it so please call your pet store or reptile recue for help.