Reptiles Not Suitable as Pets for Children Under Five

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Ireland — Parents have been warned reptiles are not suitable pets for children under the age of five. Recently, a toddler picked up a life threatening infection from a pet turtle.

The baby who was recently diagnosed with a botulism infection is now recovering but the National Health Protection Surveillance Center (HPSC) warned the situation could have been more grim as recovery from such a serious infection can sometimes be fatal.

There are a number of different types of botulism toxin but the type which the baby picked up – type E – is so rare it was only the seventh case ever reported in an infant worldwide, the centre said.

The baby is believed to have picked it up when handling the turtle or its food.

The HPSC said a significant proportion of cases of salmonella are also associated with contact with reptiles. Dr Paul McKeown, a specialist in public health medicine at the center, said there were 449 cases of salmonellosis reported in 2008 and 15 of these had recent contact with reptiles.

“Very worryingly, nine of these 15 cases were in children under one year of age. This tells us that these diseases are appearing too commonly in households that have pet reptiles and too commonly in infants and babies,” he said.

Reptiles such as snakes, lizards, moniters, and turtles have all become extremely popular in the pet world.

Experts want pet owners to know the importance of hand-washing after each exposure to the pet. And children under five should not have unsupervised time with any reptile.

Furthermore, he said, small children whose immune systems are not fully developed are not the only group at increased risk of illness from reptiles. Pregnant women, elderly or frail adults or immunosuppressed people such as those with cancer should also avoid all contact with reptiles.

McKeown said if a child acquired botulism from a turtle it would almost certainly come from the water in which the reptile was in being splashed on to the infant.

“Pets are great company but the risk here is such that for most parents it’s probably too big a risk to take with their children . . . it’s quite terrifying to see infant botulism, it’s desperately worrying for a parent,” he said.

Source courtesy of www.irishtimes.com

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