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For Some Animals, There's No Place at Home
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 The new AAP review details a number of diseases potentially transmitted by these more unusual pets: Reptiles have a high rate of carrying different strains of salmonella, as do turtles, baby poultry -- including chicks -- and hamsters.
Plague is carried by wild rodents and transmitted to humans handling infected animals -- including domestic cats -- that have been bitten by fleas. And macaque monkeys carry the herpes B virus.
And animals don't have to be in the home to pose a risk. More than 55 outbreaks of disease in humans, including infection with E. coli bacteria, involved animals in public settings from 1991 to 2005.
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The report recommends frequent hand washing to help minimize these risks.
Children under 5 years old are at particular risk, partly because their immune systems are still developing. Adults with weakened immune systems, the elderly and pregnant women are also at greater risk.
Typically, allergies are associated more with cats and dogs than with nontraditional pets, said Dr. Jonathan Field, emeritus director of the pediatric allergy and asthma clinic at New York University/Bellevue Medical Center in New York City. The real problem comes with people who have weakened immune systems and are exposed to a bacteria or virus from one of these pets.
More information
To learn more, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Healthy Pets Healthy People.
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Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 10/7/2008
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SOURCES: Robert Frenck, M.D., professor, pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and member, American Academy of Pediatrics committee on infectious diseases; Charles Mitchell, M.D., professor, division of infectious disease, department of pediatrics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Jonathan Field, emeritus director, pediatric allergy and asthma clinic, New York University/Bellevue Medical Center, New York City; Oct. 3, 2008, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report; October 2008 Pediatrics
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