IMPORTANT!!! Hedgehog Zoonoses

[ShaiAlyt]

I ran across this article today and I found it extremely informative. This is the kind of thing every hedgehog owner should have around as a reference. Also, you may want to print out a copy for or give the link to your veterinarian to make sure they have seen it is well.

This is an article discussing zoonotic potential of certain diseases identified in hedgehogs. A zoonosis is a disease that can be transfered from animals to people (and visa versa). These are especially important from a public health perspective (I am a vet student who is also working on a masters in public health) and is an issue that pet owners need to be made aware of. It was published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal put out by the Centers for Disease Control, so you can be assured of its accuracy.

This article is written in a scientific manner, but the information is set out nicely. If there is material you don't understand, I would encourage you to check the references at the end of the article for clarification, ask your vet or contact me via e-mail (though classes have started back up, and I may not be able to get back to you for several days!)

Hopefully this article will be yet another helpful tool to keep your hedgehog (and yourself) healthy and happy! :)

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol11no01/04-0752.htm

[Ginger]

Wow !

This article is so rich in informations and is very precious for all of us, hedgehogs owners.

As you said, EVERYBODY who have a hedgehog should read it. Especialy breeders I think.

Thanks a lot for sharing that article !

Personnaly, I am very interested about scientific documents about hedgehogs. They are a very credible references (it is hard to find very good documents about this subject and in french, there is almost nothing that has been written on it).

Again, thanks ! :)

[Kalandra]

I have read this article and have many concerns about its content. Here are a few interesting points that I noted as well as did several other people I know.

"These animals originally arrived from Europe, Asia, and Africa" From what I have been told about the imports of hedgehogs, the majority came from Nigeria. A few of us know of no imports of hedgehogs from Europe or Asia.

Same paragraph:
"2 in particular are commonly seen as pets (3 (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol11no01/04-0752.htm#1)): the European hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus, " Where were these ever imported in the North American trade? I believe it has always been illegal to import this species.

They also bring up the importance of being cautious when taking in rescues to rehabilitate. Why is this exotic specific? Isn't this true of ANY animal you rescue?



For some reason I just get the same impression from this article that I did the older one... that the information they are using is coming from old text which applied at the time because people were taking in wild animals as pets.

[Nancy]

I read the article and must admit I had some moments of concern, especially since I am sick right now. :laugh: Then my head cleared and I realize that if you have a healthy animal to begin with and it is fed healthy food and is kept clean and well cared for, the chance of it getting and passing on some of the diseases mentioned is just about non-existant. I mean where does a hh get samonella if it isn't fed rotten or uncooked food.

I guess I won't loose sleep over it. :laugh:

[Ginger]

"These animals originally arrived from Europe, Asia, and Africa" From what I have been told about the imports of hedgehogs, the majority came from Nigeria.
.

Me too, from what I have read, they come from Nigeria. Are the hedgehogs from Asia and Europe were importated to be keeping in zoo or something but they have to report them anyway (I don't know, it is just a hypothesis) ?

This information didn't bug me at first because I thought that they just report the origin of the differents hedgehogs species that are in the USA right now (in zoo, household, etc,...).

[paris26]

Very well stated Julie! Any animal, including humans can be carrier for salmonella. I would be more concerned about salmonella with many other species before the hedgehog :rolleyes:
It is also my understanding that the European hedgehog is a protected species and illegal to import to the US.
I know I use good hygiene and sanitary practices when it comes to all of my animals, so while the article was interesting to read, I believe it can be very misleading. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it!

[tunes]

Apparently there are huge concerns with this article within the hedgehog community and the authors are going to be challenged on their corectness. I have read that they feel that this is just a foot in the door for banning most "exotic" pets. Some of the points that Julie brought up are just a few that are being challenged.

I would take this article with a seriously LARGE dose of salt and continue to do more research on your hedgie before believing everything you read.

[Steph]

:banghead: This article is crap in SO many ways. Let me just hilight a few:

First of all, Euro Hedgehogs are protected from exportation all over Europe and have not to the best of anyone's knowledge EVER been kept as pets in the states. Aside from they are protected from pet ownership in Europe so while many people try to draw them to their gardens as natural insect repellant they are not supposed to keep them as pets.

ANY animal can carry and express Salmonella including humans, Chinchillas, Rats, etc... Reptiles can express it through skin contact because they live in their toilets did you know that?? Did you also know that the reason turtles under a certain length are illegal is because some moron let their baby put an infant turtle in their mouth?? It was a huge public health matter in the 70's thus the 5 inch law was passed. Humans and other animals also carry E-Coli, and other Gram Negative bacteria in their GI tract to aid in digestion not to mention Staph. Anyone who is sick or stressed can pass these things along through feces. Anyone who handles their pet of any kind without washing their hands deserves to get sick because that's just ignorance and that is one of the reasons we have the CDC destroying Prairie Dogs around the country due to 8 infected PD's in ONE state from ONE breeder that were exposed in an airport quarantine facility by someone who didn't take their job seriously.

To the best of our knowledge there has never been a transmission of Hoof & Mouth from captive African Hedgehogs which is what we breed, sell, own, and rescue here in the states.

Finally, let me just say the CDC is full of crap. They will come up with an excuse to justify anything. I sold a hedgie to someone who works in the zoonoses department of the CDC offices in Fort Collins and even he admitted the whole PD thing was a foot in the door for them. He said they'd discovered PD's could transmit and harbor just about anything you could think of and were therefore considered a "biological threat" because "they could easily be used in biological warfare". First off, how do they know what they can carry unless they are exposing them to it which is wrong on so many levels, and second of all, who is going to even consider infecting a bunch of PD's with a biological weapon? GIVE ME A BREAK!!

It is my understand the IHA is drafting a formal letter in response to this citing actual experts in the care of hedgehogs rather than people who obviously know nothing, this article was written with SO many errors. When the IHA officially releases their letter I will post it as well because they have all of the statistics, etc... and frankly I don't have time to dig them up right now but wanted to address this because it's a crock.

[Ginger]

Some of the points that Julie brought up are just a few that are being challenged.

I would take this article with a seriously LARGE dose of salt and continue to do more research on your hedgie before believing everything you read.

I don't believe everything I read ! I did a master and I can figure whenever a document might be good or "crap".

All animals carries potential diseases that can be transmitted to humans. It is a fact. That article just show all the cases where a hedgehog is implicated. This article report something like less than 100 cases of those diseases / problems. And how many thousands of hedgehogs there is actually in the USA only ? More than 40 000 !

[tunes]

Chill Ginger - that comment was not aimed at you, it was a general comment. I realize that some people can figure out what a load of crap it is, but others cannot. Hence my comment. Oh, and I don't think you need a masters degree to determine crap from good. :)

BTW - Humans can give animals illnesses as well. Wonder why no articles are ever written with everyone in a panic over them?