salmonella airborne?

[shelloise]

is salmonnela airborne?

 

[wellington]

No it isn't.

 

[shelloise]

Ok so it is only in their feces and if disturbed by cleaning the cage, it will not release in the air such as some bacterias/parasites would?

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I was just reading studies on pigs and chickens that had controlled invitonments. One group had salmonella and were introduced to the healthy group. Within 5 weeks a couple tested positive as well. I know there are many different types of salmonella but wanted to know about tortoises because I do know that people and animalsthat don't have strong immune dystems can be at more risk

 

[lynnedit]

Salmonella is contracted through eating contaminated food, or touching any, uh, substance that carries Salmonella and then touching the food or the mouth.
So the healthy group had some kind of contact with the stool of the infected group.

Humans have to be careful about food prep but mostly about good hand washing.

 

[shelloise]

So what had gotten me thinking about it was a friend of mine lets her tortoise roam the house and i was thinking if the tortoise had stepped in its own feces, would nt it be on the floors though?

 

[lynnedit]

Theoretically that is true. Hopefully most of us always wash our food before preparing it, but if you crawl around on your hands and knees on contaminated floor, and then touch your mouth... I would bet that is a very unusual way to contract it, however.

 

[dmmj]

If you throw the tortoise poop, then it will be airborne.

 

[Yellow Turtle]

If you throw the tortoise poop, then it will be airborne.

Lol imagine people throwing torts' poop around and airborne salmonella everywhere...

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

While I prepare dinner on the floor, if I find any tortoise poop, I usually fling it across the room making it air-bourne, then wall bourne.

 

[shelloise]

As a matter of fact there is a baby here sometimes, and a relative with cancer somertimes too, plus my immune system isn't the greatest. I didn't see it as a question that would end up with silly replies..but thanks to you that took my question seriously

 

[Yellow Turtle]

Please cool down Shelloise. Wellington and Lynne have answered it first hand and they are not airborne. The route of infection is only through oral.

If you so worry of it, then disinfect your enclosure once per month or more if you can, spot clean all the poop and don't let your torts roam the house. I believe you already know what to do, you just need reassurance from others

 

[shelloise]

Please cool down Shelloise. Wellington and Lynne have answered it first hand and they are not airborne. The route of infection is only through oral.

If you so worry of it, then disinfect your enclosure once per month or more if you can, spot clean all the poop and don't let your torts roam the house. I believe you already know what to do, you just need reassurance from others

Hi,I wasnt upset, lI felt kind of silly having asked if anything. I had been worrying about it though. Several years ago I used to raise chinchillas and we ended up losing all of them to salmonella, thru tainted food which must have had it. But then a breeder said salmonella is airborne and must have spread that way. I would like to have shelloise and enclosure in the living room, so was wanting reassurance as you had said.

 

[Yellow Turtle]

Haha it's cool, everyone has his own concern. Tortoise won't die to salmonella if they are healthy first hand. And I'm not sure all torts are carriers anyway, unless they are being somehow contaminated by it.

I'm not sure I can provide more information on this. I only think that I can accept enclosure in a living room through responsible care.
Disinfect it regularly, change your substrate regularly if you cannot boil it. Boil water temperature will kill it, you only need 5 minutes. Kristina's thread in the important thread section also gives some information on salmonella.

 

[reticguy76]

Salmonella is not airbourne. Really works as a host bacteria. Chickens and other fowl are notorious as being asymptomatic carriers or hosts and potentially pass it on to second and third parties and so on. We diagnose it all the time at my animal hospital from dogs and cats (dogs mostly) that have chronic diarrhea and meds arent helping. So we send out fecal cultures and salmonella comes back quite frequently. We tell the owners and then, they always say, "oh yeah, i did drop a piece of uncooked chicken by the grill" or "my dog did get into the trash a couple weeks ago and there was some raw chicken pieces"
Its a nuissence (spelling?) but very treatable infections. A lot of the times, it just runs its course in the body without meds.