The incidents, which occurred in the United States and Canada in 2021 and 2022, were linked to a particular strain of the bacteria known as salmonella vitkin.
Two Canadian infants were sickened by the bacteria four weeks apart in 2022, and researchers linked both to the families’ pet bearded dragons.
Twelve other cases were found in the United States between March 2021 and September 2022, with eight patients also under 1 year of age. Five of these patients were hospitalized, but no deaths occurred in either country.
Seventy-three percent of the U.S. patients had direct contact with bearded dragons or had one as a pet in their household. Researchers could not find any common food sources among the patients to explain the salmonella exposure.
The pet lizards were also eating from different food sources across the various households.
Researchers did not find a single breeder or source of all the dragons that caused the salmonella infections.
While 29 patients were hospitalized between the two outbreaks, no deaths were recorded.
Reptile Salmonella Risk
According to Brian Todd, professor of conservation biology at the University of California-Davis, bearded dragons who have salmonella in their gut often shed the bacteria more frequently when they are stressed.The lizards often experience extreme stress when they are being transported from a breeder to a pet store or when they are first brought home and put in a new environment.
Mr. Todd also told The Epoch Times that pet reptiles could also carry campylobacter, which, like salmonella, is a bacteria that can make people sick with diarrhea when they are infected.
However, he said the risk of getting salmonella from a pet reptile is “low.”
“But there are important steps to prevent even that risk. A big one would be housing an animal in a part of the home that’s not close to where you’re preparing and consuming food.
“So not in a kitchen or a dining room or one of those shared areas where food is very commonly going to be found.”
Mr. Todd, who is a lizard owner himself, recommends keeping cages as clean as possible while using gloves.
He said that washing hands vigorously for 20 to 30 seconds after handling your pet lizard or cleaning its cage is important, as well as avoiding contact with your nose or mouth.
And, you should also avoid snuggling up too close to your beloved lizard.
“There are people out there who might want to give their pet bearded dragon a kiss, and I would highly recommend against doing something like that.
Bearded Dragons in Classroom
Bearded dragons are also used by teachers for hands-on learning exercises in schools.Terry Pinkstaff has taught various grades in Florida for three-and-a-half decades but spent 15 years teaching science at Dinsmore Elementary School in Duval County, Florida, which is a magnet school for Grades K–5.
Ms. Pinkstaff had a science lab with 40 different animals at one time, including tree frogs, bearded dragons, ball pythons, rat snakes, and melanistic albino hedgehogs.
“For several years, we actually hatched bearded dragons in our lab and put like a camera on it. And the kids could actually tune into it if they wanted to see when they were hatching,” she said.
“I still see kids 20 years later. And they remind me of what they remember seeing and doing, and how exciting it was for them … it [was] one of their favorite classes to go into because back then I had like a little theme.
“It was called ‘living, breathing, exciting science.’ You didn’t just come into my room and open a book,” Ms. Pinkstaff said.
She integrated the animals into her class lessons.
Once, a bearded dragon contracted giardia from crickets and grasshoppers the class was collecting from outside soil that was likely contaminated with the parasite.
The infection cleared after the students started using cleaner food sources for the lizard, including fresh greens they grew in the school’s garden. She told her students that they had to thoroughly wash the vegetables before feeding them to the bearded dragon.
“Part of the lesson to the kids was alright, just as our dragon caught it from not washing something that had been in contact with the ground; that can happen to us; that can happen to our pets. That’s why it’s always important to follow sanitation,” Ms. Pinkstaff said.
“If you don’t teach kids safety and hygiene, anyone can get sick from almost any pet. So, do bearded dragons have the possibility of carrying salmonella? Yes,” she said, but her classes never experienced a salmonella exposure event in almost two decades of hands-on learning, in part due to strict hand-washing and hygiene practices.
Other Illnesses Caused by Pets
Mr. Todd said these risks are not unique to pet reptiles.“But on the whole, there’s always the risk with any animal of any kind that it could have some kind of bacteria or virus that we’re being exposed to.
“And, obviously, when it’s a pet that’s in our home, we’re putting ourselves in closer contact for those rare kinds of transmission events,” he explained.
Mr. Todd said that dogs can contract rabies, which is fatal if left untreated. He also mentioned that cats sometimes carry toxoplasmosis, a single-celled parasite that affects as many as a million people per year in the United States alone.
While the symptoms are not always severe, as many as 4,000 people every year may experience some vision loss due to an infection from the parasite.
“Cat scratch disease [CSD] is another one that we don’t think about much from cats. And it can infect more than 10,000 people a year.
“And it can be really hard to diagnose because it seems to be so uncommon, and everyone seems to have a cat.
“And it’s just not something people think about. But that one can be particularly problematic for children that acquire it,” Mr. Todd explained.
If infected, the wound may swell, turn red, and fill with fluid between three and 14 days after initial contact. The infection causes fever, headache, poor appetite, and exhaustion.
Cats often get the bacteria from flea bits or flea feces when they bite or claw at fleas, causing its excrement to collect in a cat’s teeth or nails, where it is transmitted to humans from bites or scratches.
Mr. Todd also explained that people have a much higher chance of contracting salmonella from contaminated food sources, which account for most infections, hospitalizations, and deaths from the bacteria.
“So [while] the risk of getting it from reptiles and amphibians that are kept as pets is there, it is a very, very, tiny risk compared to the more likely transmission-borne illnesses,” he said.
Even though not every lizard has salmonella in its gut, it’s wise to assume exposure is possible whenever handling them.
“It’s a bit like gun ownership. If you treat every gun like it’s loaded, you really cut down on the risk of accidental problems arising from gun ownership,” Mr. Todd said.
