Crazy Question?

[tkilgour]

Kinyonga ( a forum member), Has an excellent write up on the quarantine of new animals. I follow this religiously when bringing home new animals.

Here is my "crazy question":

Here is a little history on one of my WC specimens I got. I received several wild caught chams and 1 of them seemed to have a URI. Once acclimated and being Quarantined, her symptoms ( mucus, popping sound, and blowing up throaght) have since dissappeared and she over all seems healthy at this point. However, I am still going to keep her separated of course.

My question is; Can this URI mutate and affect humans? Several days after getting her, I myself caught an infection like a cold. Then each of my family members who help me with my chams caught an infection, similar to a cold. Also, my friends who help with the chams also caught something similar to a week long cold. Is this a possibility the infection can mutate in chams and inturn affect humans? Crazy question but I was just curious if this is possible or coincidence.

Kinyonga and Chris Anderson probably can say this is possible or not. Thanks everyone!!!

 

[laurie]

I have no solid knowledge but have been told it doesn't happen but it is a good question.

 

[tkilgour]

Thank you Laurie! I would have assumed it isn't possible either, but I really do not know much about this topic.

 

[laurie]

If the experts don't sign in I will drag out the books and look it up for us.

 

[draetish]

What about URI spreading to other chams, like humans spreading colds? Is this possible?

 

[ChamOh]

if the experts don't sign in i will drag out the books and look it up for us.

.......

 

[zwhitman]

No your respiratory infections were most likely a coincidence. There are very few diseases that can be transmitted between mammals and herps. Nearly all of those affect the GI tract. The ones that do affect the respiratory tract are serious (tuberculosis / fungal infections) and would have required you and your cham getting medical help.

I once read one semi convincing account of a colony of turtles that appeared to get a respiratory infection from a sick person. I am still skeptical of this though.

 

[ChamOh]

No your respiratory infections were most likely a coincidence. There are very few diseases that can be transmitted between mammals and herps. Nearly all of those affect the GI tract. The ones that do affect the respiratory tract are serious (tuberculosis / fungal infections) and would have required you and your cham getting medical help.

I once read one semi convincing account of a colony of turtles that appeared to get a respiratory infection from a sick person. I am still skeptical of this though.

does anyone have any literature on what these transmittable diseases are? or studies, etc..

 

[Carlton]

What about URI spreading to other chams, like humans spreading colds? Is this possible?

There are infectious respiratory diseases in herps as in mammals (I'm thinking of the very infectious URDS respiratory disease complex in tortoises). Without culturing the specific bacteria causing the initial URI you'll never know. Most URIs get going because a particular cham is stressed or compromised by something else. The chance that a healthy cham also gets it isn't all that likely if you are careful when cleaning cages etc. And, even if it does, a healthy cham could throw it off before you realize it. Not all URIs are deadly.

Transferring between mammals and herps? I suppose it could happen but human colds are so common and easy to spread it might be very hard to pinpoint.

 

[kinyonga]

Some bacteria can infect chameleons and humans but without a test to find out what bacteria it was there is no way of knowing. If you both got over it I doubt its something to be concerned with.