Reptiles and Selmonella.

[Inkslinger]

The hand rails on the escalators were tested at various shopping centres they founf
semen, faeces, sperm, ecoli ,urine, and a host of other bacteria, how many peiole wash their hands after using one of these on their way to the food court?
How do I know about this, The job Im in! Does the general public know? No! Info is available if you know where to look, Do I touch the rails no way Have I forgotten to wash my hands after handling snakes yep, but they are mine. Do I handle others and not wash my hands yep but I wear exam gloves so no need.

[liasis]

this tread is getting old its beenon for days now everyone is just repeating what the othe people are saying now

[Inkslinger]

Originally Posted by liasis

this tread is getting old its beenon for days now everyone is just repeating what the othe people are saying now

Read the above post nothing repeated there

[Sdaji]

Inkslinger: that's a good point, and for that reason I never touch things like hand rails. I am very particular about opening doors which the public use, often using disposable napkins etc. I generally avoid having contact with cats and dogs, most of my friends consider me to have an obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to germs, but even I don't worry about getting zoonoses from my snakes and lizards - you're too many zillion times more likely to get sick from breathing in a shopping center for Salmonella from snakes to be scarey.

Having said that, perhaps it is worth noting that unless I have a very good reason to do so (such as giving an injection or such) I never touch, let alone handle anyone else's reptiles and even so, I always shower and put my clothes straight into the wash after visiting reptile people or meetings (and usually wear fresh clothes and shower immediately before visiting reptile people, as a courtesy to them). The reason I'm so careful with reptiles, despite not being at all frightened about catching zoonoses from them is that they can carry contagious diseases and parasites which can be passed on to reptiles in other collections. Reptile to human quarantine might not be important, but reptile to reptile quarantine is extremely important.

liasis: you might find it bothersome, but posting "gee, this is tedious" or similar doesn't renew the excitement

[Chris1]

shopping trolley handles are meant to be the dirtiest things of all, they compared that to trains, public toilets, handrails etc in the paper about a year ago.

how many people push their shopping trolleys around, then touch their fruit and veg, and dont wash that with antibacterial soap before eating it.

[Kali7]

ROFL... we are getting so disease conscious that its affecting our immunity. Dirty hands is the only source of some forms of vitamin B (forget which medical journal, but I will trowel through them if it will make you happy).
No wonder so many people get sick when they drink water in India and so on, yet the Indians still survive.
It will be fun when the next natural disaster happens and all you ultra clean people die from infection, whereas us children that roll in the dirt keep on keeping on.

[Sdaji]

Originally Posted by Kali7

ROFL... we are getting so disease conscious that its affecting our immunity. Dirty hands is the only source of some forms of vitamin B (forget which medical journal, but I will trowel through them if it will make you happy).
No wonder so many people get sick when they drink water in India and so on, yet the Indians still survive.
It will be fun when the next natural disaster happens and all you ultra clean people die from infection, whereas us children that roll in the dirt keep on keeping on.

For that reason, I love to get out and expose myself to all sorts of antigens (yes, really!) A few years ago I figured that I was probably at risk of developing a naive immune system if I stayed too clean and didn't expose it to anything novel, so now when I'm out bush I eat lots of live insects and chew on all sorts of strange stuff Lots of fun!

[cris]

Originally Posted by Inkslinger

The hand rails on the escalators were tested at various shopping centres they founf
semen, faeces, sperm, ecoli ,urine, and a host of other bacteria,

did they find anything that would harm a person? perhaps draging an open wound accross it might be hazardous but short of doing that it isnt going to do anything IMO unless you start sucking your fingers or start rubbing hand rail goo in your eye or something. The danger there is as over-rated as the risk from reptiles IMO.

Its true ppl in India have far supperior immunity than ppl in western society, but have a look at their mortality rates. I like to be somewhere in the middle ground between ppl who wash, drink etc. in a river full of sewerage and dead stuff and the obsesive compulsive hygene freaks who would have very poor immune systems.

[bunnykin]

see as far as this topic is concerned I am more worried not so much of one illness my animals can give me but all the other illnesses and most of all what i or my other amimals pass to each other . If your going to talk about all the germs in the rest of the human society that just gives me more reason to be cautious for my animals...... wash your hands ....its not that hard !!!

[Kali7]

certainly I will wash my hands in water filled with bugs, whilst covering my hands with detergent filled with harmful chemicals. LOL

I wonder how reptiles can survive in the wild with all that dirt around?

on a serious note, let common sense prevail, but there is such a thing as being overclean... and John, I am with you!