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Rick Bowmer/AP
African pygmy hedgehogs are the source of an outbreak of salmonella infections that have sickened 14 people, including children, health officials said.
Spiky pet hedgehogs may be adorable, but they’re also a source of salmonella infections that have sickened at least 14 people in six states, government health officials said.
Half of those infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium linked to the prickly critters are kids younger than 10, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three people have been hospitalized.
The pets in question appear to be African dwarf hedgehogs purchased from multiple breeders in different states, according to laboratory, epidemiologic and trace-back tests.
Illnesses were reported from Dec. 26, 2011, through Aug. 13, 2012. In interviews with 10 people who got sick, all 10 reported contact with the hedgehogs or their environments before becoming ill, CDC officials said.
Five of the illnesses were reported in Washington state, three in Michigan, two each in Minnesota and Ohio and one each in Alabama and Indiana.
The problem is likely contact with hedgehog droppings, which can be a source of human salmonella infections.
“Salmonella germs are shed in their droppings and can easily contaminate their bodies and anything in areas where these animals live and roam,” said a CDC report issued late Thursday. “You should always wash hands thoroughly with soap and water right after touching hedgehogs.”
In addition, parents should make sure to supervise hand washing for young children after contact with the animals.
Hedgehogs are only the latest pet to draw warnings from health officials about the potential for salmonella infection. Pet chicks and small turtles have also been linked to hundreds of infections across the country.
Today, the CDC also reports that 168 people from 30 states have been infected with any of three strains of salmonella tied to turtles. More than two-thirds of the victims are younger than 10, the agency reports.
Last month, the CDC reported that 163 people in 26 states had been infected with salmonella tied to live ducklings and chicks linked to an Ohio hatchery.
Related stories:
- Salmonella by mail? Hatchery sparks 8-year outbreak
- Mango salmonella outbreak grows; 105 sick in US
- 66 sickened in salmonella outbreak linked to turtles
- Heavy metal singer slammed by salmonella sushi
Leave a Comment:
Oh for Heaven's Sake!! Birds spread this, hedgehogs spread that. don't let your kids go to a petting zoo or ride a horse. No pet turtles either!! God forbid they should be exposed to natural bacteria. Here's a hint: stop slathering them with antibacterial stuff (which kills the good as well as the bad), drag them away from their electronic game devices, and throw them outside to play!! I can't think of much of anything more filthy than a human infant and people keep touching them. Blechhhh. I'd take my chances with the hedgehog anyday. At least they don't lay there and wallow in their own filth til someone does something about it. I make it a point to watch for parents to slime their kids with antibacterial goop after petting my horse, and then I borrow it and carefully disinfect the horse where the kid touched THEM.
It's like George Carlin said: "You have an immune system... but it needs PRACTICE! And it needs germs to practice on!"
Clearly Hedgehogs are as dangerous in the wrong hands as Assault Rifles. Ban them before evil dooers begin to collect Hedgehog doodey and try to kill people through mass poisonings. But first cook them and eat them.
Redwizardooo hit the nail on the head. Why do you think teachers, doctors, nurses, etc. have such great immune systems?! They are around sick people all the time!!
Some people are resistant to some strains of Salmonella, but nobody's immune.....
Live by the hedgehog die by the hedgehog
I'm sure CDC means well by these warnings but I have to question the investigation of such. It seems this same warning scare arises every two years.
I got my first hedgehog in 1997 and have not been without since. In fact, I've had upwards of 22 at one time as I have a small in-home rescue. NEVER NEVER NEVER in all this time have I or my husband gotten sick from out contact and interaction with the hedgehogs - a daily event! No, I don't always wash my hands right after handling a hedgehog or items from their environment. I DO wash my hands BEFORE I handled my hedgies as I don't want to risk passing something to them that I might have picked up.
Fact: Salmonella is everywhere folks! Germs and bacteria are everywhere. I have to wonder about the health of the hedgehogs and other pets in these cases. How much risk are the animals facing? If you are truly afraid of bacteria and germs don't touch that keyboard! The average computer keyboard harbors more germs and bacteria than any small animal can and still survive. And if you use a public computer such as I do in the library - well who knows why I've survived to write this far?!
Scarier fact: Check out an ingredient called triclosan found in most hand sanitizer and other antibacterial products (including some dish cloths). Its part of the chemical compound that makes Agent Orange and has been linked to muscular deterioration, including the heart. Yet our wonderful government with all it's rules, regs and warnings allows this ingredient in hand sanitizers, soaps, cloth products and more. No thanks! I'll take my chances with a hedgehog!
When will people learn that wild animals are that ... wild and not meant to be household pets....
Having a hedgehog is no different than having a hamster/guinea pig. They have been domesticated just like any other small pet. Did you know that cats carry chlamydia bacteria?? I don't think that will lower the amount of cat owners. And this should not affect hedgehog owners/buyers. Like everyone else is stating: Wash your hands when you are done handling the animals!! That goes for any animal!
CDC says hedgehogs caused 14 people to get salmonella? Well let me ask you this, CDC--how many people have been sickened by or died as result of your mandated VACCINES?
Why are there no official health warnings on drinking cola? I got stomach ulcer from this!
Sheesh, odds are the reason kids seem to be the only ones getting sick is because their immune systems have no experience with the infection and thus do not attack it. Without experience immune systems are useless, and they cant get experience by being shielded from reality.
abby-1588585
When will people learn that wild animals are that ... wild and not meant to be household pets....
If these are farm raised animals, and have been in captivity since birth, experiments have shown that within a few generations animals can become as tame as cats and dogs. Interestingly enough research has shown that over generations of captivity the new generations change in appearance as opposed to their wild counterparts. So taming wild animals actually changes their physical characteristics such as color and pattern of their fur.
It's called Clorox use it when you have pets,then you won't get anything.
and the hedgehogs name is spiney norman ?
Good one dude
Must be time for budget allocations. CDC? Where were these clowns when they should of been educating their fellow Feds working for the NPS. Now the US is going to face hundreds of Law Suits due to the Yosemite Hanta virus outbreak. They just need more money, money, money. Forget accountability. If you don't have the brains to wash your hands and teach your kids the same common sense hygiene. Guess what? You're going to get sick! How much did this, "Warning", cost taxpayers?
It does not require a college degree to know that any animal droppings are full of bad germs. Make sure you and your children wash well after handling any droppings or animals themselves. The animals do not wipe as humans do, therefore, the germs stick to their fur or whatever. WASH..or where cheap gloves.
The United States needs to start outlawing critters that are not native to our country.
That probably includes you....
Well I own 2 hedgehogs and I have had them for two years. I haven't been ill yet....Hmmmm maybe because I bathe them, clean their cage daily, I don't touch them or their poop and then lick my hands. It's all about cleanliness and hygeine. If you can't stop yourself from liking possible poop hands.. well then.. what do you expect.
Furthermore, people get samonella from beef, chicken, turtles, consuming bad peanut butter.. oh @!$%#.. should we just not eat ever again?!?! If common sense is used, then this wouldn't be an issue. If you don't watch your kids and teach them to wash their hands after going to the bathroom or petting their animals.. well not sure what is expected. You can also then get samonella from cats and dogs because they don't wipe either. And if people don't teach their children to wash their hands after pooping, then they could make them sick with their own feces.. hmmmm....
Ignorant people seems more contagious that this samonella issue they are trying to blame on hedgehogs. @!$%#, blame it on uncleanliness and lack of hygiene.. just saying
They are cute little critters but I would prefer to see them left in the wild rather than kept as pets. Sorry to hear about these people who got infected though.
What's next, Guinea pigs?
What's wrong with just having a dog as a pet. rarely do you get sick from them.
Only 14 people since december 2011? thats nothing, i wonder how many people have gotten salmonilla in that same time frame from eating undercooked food??
There was also a MASSIVE pet food recall that we feed our hogs. Has anyone ever connected those two together? Probably not.
BTW, these animals wouldn't survive in the wild, even in their native Africa. They've been domesticated for centuries.
Yes, it is delicious, I would like more of the salmon, Ella.
I am unsure why the CDC is targeting pet hedgehogs, but they have done so in the past. First, in January 2005, CDC published a preposterous article by a veterinary student (and her professor, who probably just added his name to it) where virtually each and every "fact" cited was wrong. Then, in 2010, the journal Pediatrics published a semi-silly article warning that exotic pets, including hedgehogs, should not be under the care of children under five years old (I would assert that NO pet should be under the care of children under five years old). Hedgehogs were again targeted based upon the erroneous 2005 CDC article. Then MSNBC picked up the Pediatrics article and targeted hedgehogs one more time. Now, suddenly, after virtually no activity regarding pet African hedgehogs over the past 20 years, suddenly 14 people came down with salmonella in different locations around the country, and the CDC blames pet hedgehogs. Given the pitiful track record the CDC had displayed in this area, I seriously doubt the science attributed to this claim. Lacking credible evidence, I would contend that if detailed case-by-case studies were made available, these contentions would probably fall apart as readily as the nonsense regarding residential radon contentions.
The CDC estimates that about 1,000,000 cases of salmonella occur each year in the USA and some 20,000 require hospitalization. Moist of these cases occur from contaminated food products, such as chicken and eggs. So, I would contend that in these 14 "hedgehog cases" the hedgehog got blamed simply because the hedgehog lived in the home where a salmonella case occurred. Otherwise, why has this "problem" not been identified over the last 20 years. Even if these 14 cases could be directly attributed to hedgehogs (which I seriously doubt) the number 14 out of one million cases is statistically insignificant.
I have operated a hedgehog rescue for 15 years and have provided long term care to 350 African hedgehogs where our resident population generally numbers between 40 and 50. As a rule I wash my hands before handling a hedgehog, and afterwards only in the case of new residents that are under a 30-day quarantine. I, nor any of the volunteers that assist me have ever fallen ill from handling a hedgehog.
By the way, virtually all of the pet African hedgehogs that are alive in North America today are the descendants of some 80,000 Central African and Algerian hedgehogs that were rounded up in northern Nigeria, Niger, and Benin between 1991 and 1994. They were rounded up and sold into the pet market because they were overpopulating and starving to death and getting run over. A quarantine period was imposed by USDA in 1994, which made further imports not practical. These are the only two species of hedgehogs (out of 14 species) that cannot hibernate (due to their proximity to the equator), and so they are relegated to be indoor pets that must be kept at 70 degrees Fahrenheit (or higher) at all times. They make good pets for people living in small apartments because they are clean (self-grooming), hypoallergenic for almost all people, quiet, small (average weight 350 to 450 grams), have zany individual personalities, and can be quite affectionate. Being desert animals they make very judicious use of water, so their stools are inoffensive and fast drying. Best wishes, Z. G. Standing Bear in Divide, Colorado USA (www.hedgieflash.com)
lol
wash ur hands after holding a living ball of dirty needles
lol
So what is wrong with a little cleanliness?
It will prevent infection from salmonella and a lot more diseases caused by unclean conditions and actions.
The world would undoubtedly be a healthier place if everyone washed their hands thorougly after using the restroom, coughing, blowing the nose, handling any type of animal, doing any kind of work, and especially before touching food. Most food-borne illness is caused by human carelessness.