Hazardous Hedgehogs

Hundreds of millions of legally and illegally imported exotic pets are flooding into the USA and Europe every year. An exotic pet to be could be scratching out an existence in Asia one day, and find itself living in the lap of luxury in a household in perhaps Idaho the following 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. These new owners are ignorant of the fact that their pets could damage the health of themselves and their families.

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.

So what kinds of diseases could your pet hedgehog be carrying.

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. The CDC states that 20 in 100 cases of infection are due to 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 bred hedgehogs and had a herd of 80 hedgehogs. It is significant that the girl did not have any physical contact with the hedgehogs. She was infected by a family member who had handled the hedgehogs. 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.

This tale is all the more intriguing as the breeder concerned managed to avoid Britain’s severe quarantine rules and brought a number of pet hedgehogs into the country from Germany. Hedgehogs imported into the UK would normally be required to spend 6 months in government approved facilities.

What’s very strange about this case is that the breeder in question claims that the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) permitted her to quarantine her new imports at home, in a house that already contained, rats, snakes, lizards, sugar-gliders, hedgehogs and 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.

This tale is also an example of what can happen when you purchase your pet from less than reputable 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. The information you will find on the CDC website will assist you to minimise the risk.

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