Dangerous pets – no antidotes for reptile venom at Mater Dei
James Debono There are no stocks of antidotes for bites or stings by venomous animals currently available at Mater Dei Hospital, a Health Department Official has confirmed.
A legal lacuna has in the past years led to the importation of poisonous snakes, spiders and other reptiles and invertebrates to Malta, but the government has recently declared it intends to ban the trade in poisonous and dangerous animals.
No universal anti-venom exists for bites from poisonous creatures, although individual antidotes do exist for specific species.
“For an anti-venom to be administered, the species causing the injury must be identified with a certain degree of certainty, because the administration of anti-venom may in itself cause life-threatening allergic reactions,” the Health Department official said.
Currently there are more than 60 different anti-venoms worldwide, catering for almost 300 different venomous animals.
Despite the growing popularity of exotic animals in Malta, no cases involving a diagnosis of illnesses or injury resulting from contact with such animals have been recorded in the past two years.
Apart from danger posed by venom, reptiles such as turtles, lizards, and snakes are particularly likely to carry Salmonella. In the United States, 74,000 of the 1.4 million human cases of Salmonella infections are a result of exposure to reptiles and amphibians.
People can get Salmonella from reptiles by putting things in their mouth that have been in contact with reptile faeces. “Reptiles, baby chicks, and ducklings are especially likely to pass Salmonellosis to people,” a health spokesperson said.
However the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Unit, which controls communicable diseases in Malta, has many reported cases of Salmonella directly linked with reptile pets over the past few years.
But in other European countries, a link between reptiles and Salmonella infections was only established following telephone interviews conducted by health authorities, which ascertained that many infected children had indirect contact to reptiles living in the same household.
In Germany, most cases involved infants less than one year old. The youngest child affected was an eight-week-old girl suffering from acute haemorrhagic diarrhoea and fever. The source of the infection was found to be a bearded dragon species living in a neighbouring household.
The Health Department recommends that people who have been in contact with these animals should wash their hands with soap and running water after touching either the reptile itself, or any objects and surfaces that a reptile has also touched.
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