This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (23)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Hazards of the Global Turtle Trade

Robert V. Tauxe, MD, MPH; José G. Rigau-Pérez, MD; Joy G. Wells, MS; Paul A. Blake, MD, MPH

JAMA. 1985;254(2):237-239.

Abstract
After the Puerto Rico Department of Health received a report of salmonellosis in an infant who had contact with a pet turtle, we conducted a case-control study in two urban areas in Puerto Rico to measure the extent of pet turtle-associated salmonellosis there. Ten (17%) of 60 infants with salmonellosis but none of their matched controls had a history of exposure to a pet turtle in the two weeks before onset of illness. Two other case patients were also exposed to a pet turtle—an 8-year-old child and an adult with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and Salmonella bacteremia. A variety of Salmonella serogroups were represented in the turtle-associated cases. All turtle lots collected from pet shops in Puerto Rico were culture-positive for Salmonella; 89% yielded Salmonella pomona. Contamination of the turtles probably occurred at the farm before distribution, since S pomona was also isolated from turtles exported from the same farm to Guam and to Yugoslavia. The estimated 3 to 4 million turtles exported annually from the United States are an important potential route for global dissemination of human salmonellosis.

(JAMA 1985;254:237-239)

Author Affiliations
From the Enteric Diseases Branch, Division of Bacterial Diseases, Center for Infectious Diseases (Drs Tauxe and Blake and Ms Wells), and Division of Field Services, Epidemiology Program Office (Dr Rigau-Pérez), Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta; and Division of Epidemiology, Auxiliary Secretariat for Health Maintenance, Puerto Rico Department of Health, Rio Piedras (Dr Rigau-Pérez).

Footnotes
Reprint requests to the Center for Infectious Diseases, Division of Bacterial Diseases, Enteric Diseases Branch 1-5428, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA 30333 (Dr Tauxe).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Salmonella in Turtles Imported to Israel From Louisiana
Chassis et al.
JAMA 1986;256:1003-1003.
ABSTRACT  

Promotion of Cigarettes in Developing Countries
Davis
JAMA 1986;255:993-993.
ABSTRACT  

The Name of the Red-Eared Slider: Herpetologists in Slow Ferment
Banquer
JAMA 1986;255:748-748.
ABSTRACT  

Boundaries of Conscience
Gangarosa
JAMA 1985;254:265-266.
ABSTRACT