Handle me with care! Reggie35/Flickr
Thinking about adopting a pet turtle? The shelled reptiles now come with a warning. A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report found that 107 people became ill with salmonella in 2007 and 2008 after coming into contact with turtles, Yahoo News reports.
Salmonella cases linked to turtles occurred in 34 states. Fortunately no one died from the illness, but a third of the infected people had to be hospitalized, according to Yahoo News.
Most people associate salmonella infections with contaminated foods (like the tainted peanut butter that caused an outbreak last January). But many pet owners don't realize that the disease also occurs naturally in turtles, reports the CDC. The reptiles can carry the salmonella without getting sick or showing any signs of infection -- and the bacteria can easily spread to people who handle the animals.
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