cham illnesses

[matt smith]

im currently working towrds haveing the old world chameleons added to the unrestricted list for maine. in order to do this i am sappose to show evidance that they pose little risk to people,and state of maine. obviously no cham would be able to make it in the wild so being invasive would not be an issue. if you guys could help me comprise a list of illnesses that are assocated with chams that would be appreciated. please include anything that may be harmfull to humans or other animals.

 

[chamlover]

Hi Matt,

Are you associated with the Maine Herp Society? And are you going to be at the Herp show in August? If you are we can get together. We will be there as well, we can get together and talk.

Debby

 

[lbesok]

I commend your efforts, good luck with your work. Most major illness that is transmitted between chameleons and humans would include your more common reptile parasites:

Protozoans-
1) Amebiasis
2) Coccidia
3) Cryptosporidiosis (very rare)
4) Flagallates

Metazoans-
1)Cestodes
a) Tapeworms
2)Trematodes
a) Flukes
3) Nematodes
a)Roundworms
b)Hookworms
c)Pinworms
d)Stomachworms
e)Lungworms
f) Strongyloides
g) Hepatic worms
h) Filarial nemaodes

Ectoparasites-
1) Mites

All of these topics are discussed in the Understanding Reptile Parasites Book by Roger J. Klingenberg D.M.V
Also I'd like to mention that most of these conditions (correct me if I'm wrong) could be contracted from other reptiles that are likely already legal in Maine.
I'm really having a hard time thinking of any other chameleon pathology that would be detrimental to the human population..... Maybe we are susceptible to bacterias as well so things like salmonella may also be of some concern.

 

[matt smith]

that is my thought as well. most all of these issues can be found in other reptiles,birds, and even cats and dogs. the big thing that im trying to pointout in my appeal to the state is that, along with the fact without an owner these animals could not possibly survive a maine winter on its own. even if they were to choose to only alow captive bred chams, thats good enough for me.

 

[kinyonga]

This is a big question and difficult to give a clear-cut answer to. Maybe you need to look at what diseases from other (native/pet animals) can be transmitted to humans and then compare it to how many things you might get from a pet reptile?

Many of the parasites are species specific and likely won't cause a problem in humans because if they get into the (wrong) human host they just die.

There are quite a few bacteria that can be found in humans that some reptiles can also carry. This doesn't mean that you should let down your guard...its still important to be hygenic.

Some pox viruses are transmissible to humans and some fungal diseases too.

On the opposite side of the coin...people can get a lot of different zoonoses from their mammal pets. Some parasites cause no problems to the host that they "belong" to but if transmitted to an "incorrect" host can cause severe problems. Humans are not supposed to be able to catch dog hookworms or cat flu...but they can get Helicobacter pylori (the bacteria that causes ulcers in humans) from their cat. TB can be found in cats and transmitted to humans. Humans can get Bartonella (cat scratch disease) from cats but it doesn't show any problems in the cat.

Here are some sites you might like to read...for further sites just do a search for "zoonoses AND reptiles"...
http://www.anapsid.org/zoonoses.html
http://www.anapsid.org/mainzoonoses.html
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=431895
http://www.vetcity.com/Infocenter/zoonoses1.html
http://www.zoo.org.au/Conservation/Research/Animal_Health/Reptile_Disease
http://www.reptileexpert.co.uk/TheRiskCatchingZoonoticDiseasesReptile.html
http://www.brl.uic.edu/Occupational/health.htm

http://www.exoticpetsvet.com/reptilemedical.html
"Protozoans
Most reptilian protozoans are host-specific, and due to the lowered body temperature of these animals, the transmission to humans is unlikely"

Zoonoses from other animals and reverse zoonoses.....
http://www.lapublichealth.org/vet/guides/vetzooman.htm
http://www.microbiologybytes.com/virology/bushmeat/bush3.html

Aberrant (wrong) hosts...
"Almost every occurrence of a parasite in an aberrant host results in the failure of aberrant parasites to either survive or to produce viable transmission stages."
http://fall2007.dsuparasites.com/introduction.htm

"The pentastomids are very primitive, worm-like parasites that primarily infect the lungs of reptiles. Human infection is by the larval stage. The spleen, liver, and/or lungs may be infected, but fortunately, the disease is self-limiting and usually not significant. While no fatalities have been reported, because any parasite is a foreign protein, a hypersensitivity reaction is a possible outcome with any of the parasitic zoonoses."
http://www.netce.com/coursecontent.php?courseid=486

Definitely an interesting topie! Good luck with it!

 

[matt smith]

thank you for all of thouse links. they are very helpful. after a closer look at some other sites i have discoverd that maine is like one of the only states that dont allow chams. we are working with very little allowed animals purly because the state is not doing what they should be. anyone from maine or anyone that would like to help get this ammended please feel free to right an appeal to the maine ifw. all the info on this can be found on maine.gov/ifw. just follow the links from wildlife,species info, unrestricted list.