Reptile owners told keep kids away from pets

SNAKES, turtles and lizards may not be everyone’s ideal pet, but now reptile fans are being warned not to keep them if they have children under five in the house due to the risk of contracting serious illness.

The warning was put out by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) after a case of infant botulism was identified following exposure to a turtle or turtle feed, combined with the fact that a significant proportion of cases of salmonella are associated with contact with reptiles.

Botulism is a life-threatening illness caused by a toxin released by the Clostridium bacterium, which is found widely in animals that live close to the ground and commonly contaminates reptiles.

Illness such as campylobacteriosis (bowel infection), leptospirosis (liver disease), trichinellosis (a disease of muscles, the nervous system and the heart and lungs) have also been associated with keeping reptiles.

According to Dr Paul McKeown, specialist in Public Health Medicine at the HPSC, these diseases are appearing too commonly in households that have pet reptiles and too commonly in infants and babies.

“Recently, there has been one case of botulism, a small baby, associated with pet turtles. On top of that, in 2008, a year when we had 449 cases of salmonellosis, 15 of these cases had recent contact with reptiles. Very worryingly, nine of these 15 cases were in children under one year of age. Given these risks, reptiles should not be kept as pets in a house where there are children under the age of five.”

He added that pregnant women, elderly or frail adults or immunosuppressed people such as people with cancer or HIV/Aids should avoid all contact with reptiles.

However Dr McKeown added that for most people keeping reptiles does not pose a significant health risk as long as proper hygiene steps are taken.

“Enjoy your pet reptiles but keep children under five away from them entirely and take the proper hygiene steps to make sure they don’t make any of your family ill. These include proper handling of reptiles and disposal of waste and water, frequent hand washing following contact with reptiles and keeping your reptiles in their tank.”