Hundreds of millions of legally and illegally imported Exotic pets are flooding into the USA and Europe every year. An animal can be happily living in a jungle in Asia, South America or Africa one day, and find itself in a cage in some little girl's bedroom in less than a 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. Most owners do not know that their cute new pet could cause them and their families serious health problems.

Zoonotic Diseases

Zoonotic diseases are those that can jump from animals to humans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA says that zoonotic diseases account for around three-quarters of all emerging infectious diseases today.

Below are only some of the germs and diseases your hedgehog could infect you with.

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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 1 in 20 of all infections are passed to people by 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 kept a herd of approximately 80 hedgehogs. Significantly the baby hadn't ever touched the hedgehogs herself. The girl was infected by a family member. This serotype has since been found to be the cause of infection 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 story even more frightening because the woman concerned somehow managed to get around the UK's strict quarantine laws and import several African Pygmy Hedgehogs directly into the country from Germany. Rabies prevention laws normally mean that imported hedgehogs would spend six months a government approved facility before they can be imported into the UK.

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.

Along with the disease side of the story, it also exemplifies just what may occur when you purchase your pet from less than honest dealers or breeders. Although the breeder has said she will pay the vet's fees, after six months the new owners have not received 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.

Buying your pet from a reputable breeder rather than a pet store or pet distributor, should also provide you with more guarantees about where the animal came from.

Although the chances of catching an exotic disease from your pet are not very big, you must take into consideration that the risk does exist and take steps to minimise it. The information you will find on the CDC website will assist you to minimise the risk.