I wanted to pick a super interesting outbreak that has happened recently, and I came across one that started in a pet store! There was a link between Campylobacter jejuni and an online pet store back in January. First Campylobacter jejuni is a spirally curved microaerophilic gram-negative rod. Its reservoir is in animals, and it is transmitted by poor hand washing after touching poultry/animals or ingesting infected water. It takes a very low dose to be infected. It’s signs and symptoms are fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. In severe cases a person may develop dysentery (diarrhea with blood and pus). People usually are over the infection after about a week with no antibiotics, unless there is a severe case.
So how did this outbreak happen? Laboratory findings concluded that the outbreak was caused by contact with puppies from an online pet store called Petland! 30 infected people were reported across 13 US states. There were 4 hospitalizations and no deaths. There were 24 people interviewed and 88% reported that they had contact with a puppy. Out of the sample who were in contact with a puppy, 80% of individuals were in contact with a puppy from Petland.
Conclusion: Don’t buy a puppy from Petland (kidding), BUT you do have to be very precautious with puppies in general. Make sure to wash your hands, and don’t let them lick your face! It is really important to take your puppy to the vet after adoption for a check up. You should also consistently disinfect after cleaning throw up/ poop. I did not realize that you could get this infection from puppies so I will also take extra precautions to wash my hands and you should too!
Microbiology with Alicia 