New drug resistant Salmonella in rodents

I hope this is the right area to post this....I heard a brief part of this on the morning news, it seems a new, multi-drug resistant form of Salmonella has been found in rodents. I'll just give a link to the news story, easier than trying to explain it all.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in693347.shtml

Of course, in the bit I heard on TV, they also talked about how common it was for people to get salmonella from handing reptiles.....

oooh, not cool.
I had salmonella poisoning this time last year. Not a picnic. I have never been so sick, nor in such pain EVER. Worst two weeks of my life. I lost 15 pounds, which is a lot when you're only 135 to begin with. The docs wanted to blame it on my reptiles, and I refused to believe it so I requested they find out what strain it was. Yep, S. Newport - only found in horsemeat in France and chicken & brussel sprouts here in the states. Guess what I had at a restaurant two days before I got sick?? And no, it wasn't horsemeat. What was pretty depressing was that the health department doesn't test restaurants unless there have been two or more confirmed cases related to the establishment (at least here in WI). Who knows how many other people got sick and just didn't report it. Since it was never officially confirmed that I got it from that restaurant, they'd probably sue me for slander if I said (I hear that word a lot on here, but in this case it's actually appropriate ) but I will say that it's a "Family Restaurant" and they're known for their pies.

Eeeesch, I've never had it, and hope I never do!!

I guess my concern is dealing with the feeder rodents so many of us use. I have to wonder if this is something that the rodent could pass on to the snake, and down the line? And if this strain is resistant to antibiotics, is it going to be more resistant to the usual antibacterial techniques we use now?

Call me paranoid, but it worries me.

From what I understand (and I'm no microbiologist) each strain is somewhat specific to what type of animal it affects. One strain may kill a snake, but hardly make a person nauseated. Another may make people incredibly sick (to the point where they're in so much pain they're looking for sharp objects) but not even be transmitted to a reptile. Maybe someone else could elaborate here, but my guess is that this drug resistant strain may not affect any animals other than rodents??

Oh, and for all of you reptile lovers who have dogs too, don't worry, my vet said I wouldn't have to worry about "Jersey" being around the herps because she had never heard of salmonella affecting canines. That's a relief, especially when you've got a golden retriever who wants to treat all of the reptiles like her babies...

Unfortunately, if you read the article I posted the link to, this strain is KILLING people AND rodents....I forget the exact numbers, but it was proven to have spread from rodents (who later died), to people, who also subsequently died from it......the first proven case was a boy of around 8 if I remember correctly, he got the salmonella from his pet hamster, and they BOTH died from it.

I couldn't open the link, but that happens a lot to me. I think it's something with my security stuff.

That's as scary as the episode with anthrax and all the bioterrorism fears. I wonder if this drug resistant strain evolved because doctors were prescribing too many antibiotics. I hope they can trace it back to its origin and figure out what they can do.

Paul

If you want to read a REALLY interesting book that will absolutely scare the pants off of you, try this one:

Coming Plague, The : Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance
by Laurie Garrett

It's pretty heavy technical reading, but you will have a tough time putting it down to go to bed at night.

I'd probably NEVER sleep at night after reading that.....yet it sounds like an interesting read....may have to look for it. Not like I'm not paranoid enough already, lol.....

They say they think this new strain evolved perhaps from the fact that so many pet stores, rodent breeders, etc just toss some random antibiotics in the water whenever it looks like one animal in a pen is sick....therefore the whole lot gets it, time and time again. Same basic principle as the human over-medicating with antibiotics that have been going on. Not to mention all of the antibacterial soaps and cleaners and whatnot that have been so popular lately....which I believe will do more harm than good in the long run, because it's the same concept. The bacteria and germs will just end up eveolving new, stronger, and perhaps more deadly strains to populate our earth.

Lovely.

Yeah. The really scary part is that hospitals have become the best laboratories for these COMPLETELY drug resistant strains of pathogens to evolve. In that book I mentioned it brings home the point that pathogens are evolving much faster then the drug companies can keep pace with cures. In effect, the pathogens are winning and we can expect the day to arrive that would be the same as the dark ages before there WERE any drugs available to combat those scourges.

I mean, what do you do when ALL drugs will be no better then sugar pills?

Quite frankly, I suspect the problem is worse then we know. But stuff like that doesn't tend to get out into the public. Hospitals ARE businesses, you know.

Uh huh....I have 4 sister in laws who are nurses, and a good friend of mine's daughter works in the forensics lab in Dallas/Ft Worth....I've heard some good stories from all of them. I've gotten so I plug my ears every time I talk to the one in forensics when she starts talking about that kind of stuff.....too scary....but then she's always been a "doom and gloom" sort of person anyway. VERY nice gal, but never surprised me that she chose to spend more time with dead people than live ones, lol.

Too many people end up catching something worse than what they had to begin with when they go into the hospital anymore......another good reason to avoid going to the doctor.