Fish and Aquarium

Each year literally hundreds of millions exotic animals are imported into the USA and Europe. One day an unsuspecting animal could be contentedly hopping around in Asia, Africa or South America and suddenly find itself transferred half way across the world and in some child’s bedroom inside a week. Many of these future pets are not subject to quarantine requirements and often only minimal health checks are carried out before we bring them into our homes. Unfortunately a lot of owners know nothing about the health risks posed by their cuddly new pets.

Zoonotic Diseases

Zoonotic diseases are those that can jump from animals to humans. In the USA today, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that zoonotic diseases are responsible for 75% of all emerging infectious diseases.

Let’s look at just some of the disease your hedgehog could give you.

A CDC study from 2005 lists an alarming number of confirmed and potential zoonotic diseases that pet and wild hedgehogs can carry. 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. However the CDC estimates that something like 5% of all infections are the result of contact with 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 kept a herd of approximately 80 hedgehogs. One important point is the fact that the girl had never handled the hedgehogs herself. A family member who had been in contact with the animals spread the infection to her. 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.

The story becomes even more disconcerting when it transpires that the person in question had somehow evaded Britain’s stringent quarantine regulations and managed to import several hedgehogs directly into the UK from Germany. Hedgehogs imported into the UK would normally be required to spend 6 months in government approved facilities.

Something that has also raised not a few eyebrows in this case is that this woman claims that the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) gave her permission to quarantine these hedgehogs at home, in a house that must have seemed like a veritable zoo, containing other hedgehogs, sugar gliders, snakes, lizards and rats, as well as 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.

As well as the ringworm part of the story, this case illustrates what happens when you buy your pets from unreliable and dishonest dealers and breeders. Despite many promises to refund the owners part of their vet’s fees after six months they have yet to see 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.

While the risk of catching some terrible disease from your pet is quite small, owners must be aware that it does exist. If you follow the advice given on the CDC web site that risk is greatly reduced.