Salmonella.

[trs12345]

I’m sorry about the constant posts once again. I’m literally having one of the worst weeks of my life. But from those of you who seen my posts, I have an uncle who had the SV & I been to the house a couple times after that, including once during his sickness. Now, I never caught it so I can be rest assured it most likely isn’t going to happen.


However, there is another concern I just now have. My uncle is a reptile & exotic pet enthusiast. He keeps a few green iguanas, a boa & a blood python in various tanks inside the laundry room. He also keeps a pet Rat in his room, whom he introduced me to yesterday. I also have a love for reptiles & small mammals so I gladly went to go see the rat. I carried it and let it crawl on me.

The thing is, I had my new jacket on but I rolled the sleeves up before I let it crawl on me. Unfortunately, the rat still touched the actual jacket when doing so. I took the jacket off before washing my arms & hands so no issue there. But today, like every other day, has been one huge inconvenience for me. When I went to put this jacket back on, the sleeve was sticking out of the hood.

I tried to put it on without my mouth touching the sleeve and well.. I was half successful. The sleeve ended up, somewhat briefly, touching right above my upper lip. I ran to the restroom & stuck my head under the sink and ran warm water down my face. I probably made matters worse, didn’t I?

So yeah.. I’m at a big risk, aren’t I?

[tiredofitall]

A big risk for what? What do you think you can catch from your coat?

[Srk2756]

How can you contract salmonella if it didn't even enter your mouth? You have to have enough of it to overwhelm your system, which you didn't get at all since you didn't even ingest it.

[cmu315]

I am not sure how this is linked to salmonella as you need to ingest contaimiated food for infection to occur ?

[trs12345]

His pet rat was on my arm. Of course I washed it with soap and water beforehand, I just don’t think it would’ve done any good since I literally just rubbed soap then put it under the sink. That was that. Then I rolled my jacket sleeves back. Any surviving bacteria would’ve transferred to it, yes? Then, the next day, it had touched right above my mouth, which I then proceeded to stick my head under the sink and rinsed the area with warm water. In hindsight, I remembered I’ve seen a website saying warm water prompts salmonella to grow & spread, potentially meaning it could’ve spread to my mouth. The running water could’ve also had it fall into my mouth as well. I don’t know what sources are true or what isn’t, but due to who I am, I’ll treat anything relating to sicknesses like it is unless I get confirmation from an official source.


Was it that hard to understand? I wouldn’t have asked this if I knew certainly my coat was fine. As paranoid as I’ve been lately, especially with the poor choices I’ve been making as well, I’m not paranoid enough to where I’ll assume ANY little thing in existence is 100% certainly going to get me sick. I understand I post a lot & can be somewhat irrational. But the slight hostility in your tones are anything but necessary.


And cmu, have you ever researched salmonella? Reptiles, Birds, & Small Mammals are all potential carriers of it as well & can easily get someone sick if they don’t wash their hands before putting their hand in their mouth or touching anything that makes contact with their mouth.

[cmu315]

I’m not an expert on salmonella so I was genuinely confused. I don’t think anyone intended to be hostile.

[trs12345]

Oh okay. I apologize for the misconception.

[blackrabbit]

I have never heard that rats can carry salmonella. How?...

Edit: to add to this, my friend has tons of pet rats and she lets them crawl all over her. She's never mentioned salmonella being a potential issue.

[trs12345]

https://www.webmd.com/parenting/news...rry-salmonella

https://m.petmd.com/exotic/condition..._rt_salmonella

http://animals.mom.me/types-diseases...arry-1197.html

[CMM811]

Honestly you are over thinking this way too much, I’m not being rude but you are causing yourself extreme anxiety over nothing. I read the article about the people contracting salmonella from the rats and other rodents and if I read it correctly all the cases were caught by animals recently purchased from a pet store. You said your friend has had these for awhile correct? Given the pets didn’t act sick and they keep their cage clean you have very little to worry about. I understand this can be extremely touchy for you but I don’t think any one who has commented has been rude or condescending or hostile. They’ve been honest. Literally salmonella or anything just can’t jump from your coat to the back of your throat for you to swallow it and even if there was potentially anything on your jacket, which I HIGHLY doubt it simply touched your skin. I’ve never heard of hot water making salmonella grow or be “active” to make you sick. And it’s just the same as a virus the animal has to actually HAVE it for you to possibly contract it. It’s the same with chicken, not all chickens have salmonella and even if it does you don’t eat it raw you cook it then consume it.

[plzsaveme]

Salmonella only lasts for 1-4 hours on surfaces outside of a host. So if any bacteria was on your jacket it would not survive until the next day. As long as you washed your hands after touching the reptiles you are good to go my friend!