Hundreds of millions of legally and illegally imported exotic pets are flooding into the USA and Europe every year. A future exotic pet may be running around in an African desert one day and find itself transported across the world to some family's living room in say, Denver, within a week. The main problem is that many of these animals are not subject to any form of quarantine or only minimal health screening before they are allowed into the country and then into our homes. Many owners are unaware that their exotic pet may be hazardous for the healt of their families.
Zoonotic Diseases
Zoonotic diseases are those that can jump from animals to humans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA says that zoonotic diseases account for around three-quarters of all emerging infectious diseases today.
This article will provide you with information about just some of the diseases your pet might be carrying.
In 2005 a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research study provided a list of zoonotic diseases that it had confirmed hedgehogs could carry, along with several potential infectious diseases. The confirmed diseases include Salmonella, Yersina, pseudotubercolosis, Mycobacterium marinum, Herpesvirus including human herpes simplex and Rabies. The potential diseases they can carry include Yersina pestis (also responsible for Bubonic plague) and hemorrhagic fever.
Salmonella
Salmonella is normally contracted from contaminated food. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 1 in 20 of all infections are passed to people by exotic pets. For example they estimate that nearly eighty thousand Americans contract Salmonella from their pet reptiles every year.
In 1994 African Pygmy Hedgehogs were responsible for passing on a rare form of Salmonella (S. tilene), to a 10 month old girl who became the first ever confirmed case of this serotype in a human in the USA. Her family bred hedgehogs and had a herd of 80 hedgehogs. It is significant that the girl did not have any physical contact with the hedgehogs. The girl was infected by a family member. The same serotype was later diagnosed in many other cases.
Ringworm
Despite its name ringworm or Tinea is not a worm but is actually a fungal skin infection. One source of ringworm is known to be pet and wild hedgehogs. Over the past few months HedgehogsAsPets.com has been covering a story where three people were infected with ringworm by two hoglets bought from the same breeder.
This tale is all the more intriguing as the breeder concerned managed to avoid Britain's severe quarantine rules and brought a number of pet hedgehogs into the country from Germany. Usually anti rabies legislation requires hedgehogs to spend six months in a government regulated facility before they can be imported into the country.
What's very strange about this case is that the breeder in question claims that the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) permitted her to quarantine her new imports at home, in a house that already contained, rats, snakes, lizards, sugar-gliders, hedgehogs and cats and dogs. The breeder later learned that the German breeder's herd was infected with ringworm, but not before she had spread the disease from the "German" hedgehogs to her breeding pair. The offspring of these latter were sold and went on to infect three people with ringworm.
Along with the disease side of the story, it also exemplifies just what may occur when you purchase your pet from less than honest dealers or breeders. Although the breeder has said she will pay the vet's fees, after six months the new owners have not received a penny.
Reducing the risk of infection
To reduce the risk of infection simply go to this site and follow the advice they give there: http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/browse_by_animal.htm.
Purchasing your pet from a reputable breeder instead of a pet store, should provide you with more guarantees about the origins of the animal.
Although the chances of catching an exotic disease from your pet are not very big, you must take into consideration that the risk does exist and take steps to minimise it. If you follow the advice given on the CDC web site that risk is greatly reduced.
