Hamsters, turtles, chickens… why you should watch out for these pets if you have very young children

L’Académie de médecine alerte sur les risques des nouveaux animaux de compagnie pour les tout-petits

Reptiles, rongeurs ou oiseaux… Les animaux de compagnie "non traditionnels" gagnent en popularité dans les foyers français. Cependant, ils peuvent représenter des dangers méconnus pour les très jeunes enfants. L’Académie nationale de médecine alerte.

ACNT. Four letters to describe "non-traditional pets". The detention of some of them is subject to declaration or possession of a certificate of capacity, or even prohibited, due to the risks incurred by the most vulnerable people, particularly children under 5 years old. , particularly vulnerable.

Indeed, these animals can carry pathogens without appearing sick: rats and choriomeningitis in hamsters, salmonellosis in rodents, poultry or reptiles…

However, young children tend to put their hands in their mouths or kiss their little companions, which facilitates contamination.

The Academy therefore recommends:

To inform the public of these risks linked to the presence of certain ACNTs in the home; to advise against, when children under the age of 5 are present at home, the possession of ACNTs which could represent a risk of bite (ferret, rat, iguana), or transmission of infectious agents (rodents, snakes, turtles , amphibians, birds, small ruminants…); to remind parents of the importance, in the face of any illness in a child under 5 years old, of notifying the doctor if an ACNT is present at home; to create an epidemiological surveillance platform for zoonoses observed in children exposed to the presence of an ACNT.