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Snake diseases
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by flfiremedic on December 10, 2006
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What if any diseases can be contracted from contact with a snake? I know or have heard that salmonella can be passed by iguanas. I'm asking on behalf of my wife. She has had problems with a patient that brings a pet into her clinic.
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RE: Snake diseases
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by Cro on December 10, 2006
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David, Zoonoses Diseases that are communicable to humans from reptiles and amphibians are far less common than diseases transferred to humans from other pets like mammals and birds.
Reptiles and Amphibians can carry and transfer parastic, fungal, bacterial, and viral disease to humans.
These can be spread to humans from inhalation, direct contact with the eyes, nose, mouth, and open wounds, through the bite from an animal or a scratch by its claws, and by ingestion by the human when they are eating or by other objects placed in the mouth like the tip of a cigarette.
According to Grenard and Nunan in Ackerman`s "The Biology, Husbandry and Health Care of Reptiles," Volume 3, the following parasites are present in reptiles and could be transferred to humans:
Cyclospora, Acanthamoeba, Microsporida, Ascaris, Dientameoba, Entamoeba, Blastocystis, Baylisascaris, Giardia, and Crptosporidi.
Also, there are metazoan parasites such as tapeworms.
Hepatitis is also common in the damp habitats of many Amphibians.
There are also fun critters like astroviruses, rotaviruses and caliciviruses.
Water-Borne Bacteria include Salmonella, Escherichia, Campylobacter, and Aeromonas.
Other Bacterial Zoonoses besides Salmonella include Dermatophlosis, Lyme Disease, and Ehrlichiosis.
Bites by snakes can transfer many infectious organisims from their silava, including Morganella, Providencia, Escherichia coli, strepticocci, Enterobacter, staphylococci, Pseudomonas, and Clostridium.
The PREVENTION of Zoonotic Infections in humans is actually easy enough. WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER HANDLING REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS.
If you have cuts or abbrasions on your hands, wear latex gloves when handling reptiles and amphibians. Wash your hands after cleaning reptile cages, water bowls and snake hooks and tongs and tubes. If you are bitten by a harmless snake, wash the would with a disinfenctant. Teach your kids to wash their hands after handling reptiles and amphibians.
Although the above list sounds scarey, remember that reptiles and amphibians are responsible for transmitting only a tiny portion of the 240 types of diseases that animals can transfer to humans. Cats, dogs, rodents, primates, and birds have many more diseases they can transfer to humans than do reptiles.
Get in the habit of washing your hands with a disinfectant soap after working with reptiles and amphibians, and after cleaning their cages, and you have little chance of catching one of these Zoonotic Infections.
Hope this helps. Best Regards JohnZ
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RE: Snake diseases
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by Nephron on December 11, 2006
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What he said. In practice, the biggie is salmonella, particularly in turtles. The other stuff doesn't happen often enough for people to worry about it much; the diseases that captive reptiles carry tend to be direct life cycles ones, which aren't able to infect a mammal.
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