Sick Petsmart Hamster Possibly Linked to 3 Deaths

[VoodooJoint]

Yet another reason not to buy from Petshops
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/05/23....ap/index.html

[TurboPiggy]

So only pet store animals carry this disease? I'm confused.

[RubyPiggie2]

No. Common house mice, any rodent apparently can. Not too sure. Could the disease come from horrible conditions or something?

[suzy_99]

I wish that they would state more information about this disease when they do news stories like this. My father saw a story similar to this and he was kinda worried about it because they never said what the symptoms were in the animals themselves or what the assumed causes of it are. I'm worried that stories like this one are going to result in many animals being abandoned because people will be scared of the "risks" involved with owning rodents.

[Slap Maxwell]

Geez. Glad Petsmart will have a worse reputation, though.

[Access]

Just always wash your hands after handling your pet and before eating. The virus is not a risk to healthy people with non-inhibited immune systems. The reason the transplant recipients fell victim is because of the immunosupressants used during and immediately after transplants in order to prevent the body from rejecting the donated organs.

[Access]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/transplant_deaths
This article goes into more detail. I think it is horrible the way they killed 102 animals over a virus that is harmless to the animals and to ordinary people.

"The virus usually causes little or no illness in healthy people" (above)

People need to learn to practice basic hygiene like washing one's hands after using the bathroom and before eating (among the general public, this practice is not common).

The human immune system is an important part of our bodies, a healthy immune system fights off many attempts at infection every day. So of course there is a great risk of otherwise harmless infections becoming lethal when the immune system is supressed by drugs or other methods. It may as well have been e.coli or a common phage virus, rodents aren't the actual cause of death here -- the supressed immune system is.

From the article above:
"Gail Mastrati, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Management said the agency removed 102 hamsters, mice and guinea pigs from the store in the past week. The animals were euthanized and shipped to the CDC in Atlanta, where all will be tested. Preliminary results indicate two of the hamsters sent Friday to the CDC tested positive for LCMV, she said. The CDC would not confirm the results."
Why did they euthenize the guinea pigs? Those guinea pigs at least deserved a chance at being adopted into a good, loving home.

[suzy_99]

While I agree that it is sad to euthanize all of those adorable little animals, the fact is that they did present a public health risks to the public. It really wouldn't be safe to give them up for adoption because you never know who will be in contact with that animal, maybe another person with a condition that lowers there immune system. What if another person died as a result of an infected guinea pig? While I agree that there are probably many animals out there that have this virus that have no effect on the people around them, the fact is that it has been proven that there is a prevalence of it in this particular store which can be linked directly or indirectly to the deaths of 3 human beings. Maybe people will begin to realize what a terrible place petsmart is and that they are not only putting at risk the lives of animals, but also the lives of people.

[Access]

Except that from reading the original article, they admit they don't have proof that the hamster is the source: '"We believe the hamster was the source, but we can't rule out a common house mouse," said CDC spokesman Dave Daigle.' They should take their time and do the due diligence rather than rushing to a conclusion.

Likewise they euthenize the small animals prior to testing them, why not test them first? They shouldn't be euthenizing animals that are perfectly well. Even sick animals shouldn't be euthenized, if your animal is sick we all know you should first take him to a vet and seek treatment. For a sick animal, you should only euthenize him when he is in extreme pain with no hope of recovery and/or quality of life left.

[LuvMyPiggers]

They said it's now possibly linked to 6 deaths.

[Sabriel]

Key word is *possibly*. Would you put someone in jail for life for *possibly* murdering someone or would you at least give them a trial first? Test the animals, then detrimine what should be done with them.