Germ animals
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From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Playing with reptiles and birds can be a bad idea. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says critter contact causes about 74,000 cases a year of salmonella infection.
The CDC's Linda Capewell:
[Linda Capewell speaks] "Animals to remember are birds, especially young birds or chicks; reptiles, like turtles and snakes, and especially amphibians, such as frogs."
Capewell says young kids might put the animal to their mouths, or not wash their hands properly after touching it. And she says people even clean the aquarium in the kitchen, contaminating areas where they prepare food.
People who have these animals should wash their hands thoroughly after touching them or their habitats. Capewell recommends not having these animals in households with kids under 5.
Learn more at hhs.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.