All Things You should Know about Bacterial Blood-Poisoning in Hamster

Don’t keep hamsters before you know everything about them, that’s what people said. But, that is definitely true, folks. Although hamsters was small animal, they have delicate and vulnerable bodies. Overall, this animal was a perfect buddy to keep as pet, but, let me remind you that not everybody well-adapted with hamsters. The most problem was found in children. Children are easily got allergic caused by hamster’s fur, and the next issue was come from all the pregnant mom.

A study reviled direct contact between pregnant woman and hamster potentially transmit diseases carried by hamster to the mom and the baby. In the worst cases, it leads to miscarriage and health problems in adulthood. Thankfully, is not happened to all hamsters; but, prevention is always better to avoid unnecessary risk. Furthermore, there’s a lot of requirements need to be fill associated with raising hamsters.

For the examples: you need to create environmental enrichment due the welfare of hamsters, this included proper safety toys for hamster such as the ball, exercise wheel, chew toys, and cave or tunnel. Choosing safety toys are should be your main consideration, because there’s so many cases associated fractures in hamsters due unsafe toys (especially the exercise wheels).

Apparently, hamsters have some serious health problems that could infect them, one of the most terrifying issues were called as bacterial blood-poisoning. So, today, we would learn about all things you should know about bacterial blood-poisoning in hamster. Without further do, here we are!

Bacterial Blood-Poisoning

Bacterial blood-poisoning was widely known as tularemia or rabbit fever. Tularemia caused by bacterium called Francisella tularensis and it was infectious disease. The symptoms of tularemia was included enlarge lymph nodes, skin ulcers, and fever; most of the time, the disease was formed as throat infection (might occur) and pneumonia. This disease was transmitted from infected animals, such as deer flies, ticks, and others.

Tularemia was able to infect other animal’s species and people which have direct contact with the infected hosts, or it might also transmitter by the water, dust or air that had been contaminated by the bacterium. The diagnosis of the disease only come out throughout cultures of the infected site or blood tests.  For you mu dear friends, to avoid the contamination of the bacterium is by using insect repellent, never try to disturb or touch dead animal body, remove ticks rapidly, and used long sleeves and pants around the habitat of insects.

In case, you already infected by it, the doctor ordinarily would give treatment with antibiotic such as Ciprofloxacin, Gentamicin, Streptomycin, and Doxycycline. During the period of 1970s to 2015, tularemia was spread in America and mans are the most common victims than female; all the victims approximately was about young ages to the middle aged and often occur during summertime.

Fun facts about the disease is it’s named based on a place in California called Tulare County, the place of the disease discovered for the first time in 1911s.

The Cause of Disease

The main culprit that caused this disease was bacteria. The bacteria infect its victims throughout inhalation, mucous membranes and damaged skin. Most of the cases of tularemia associated with human was happened throughout insects such as deer flies and ticks; accidentally, the victims was consumed foods and water, also soil that contaminated by the bacterium.

Symptoms in Human

The incubation process of tularemia needed about 14 days and ordinarily the symptoms already noticed within 3 to 5 days. During those days, the symptoms that occur in human body included: fever, signs of sepsis, loss of appetite, lethargy, and death would be the last possibility. Another sign of the disease is skin lesion which only exhibited in people (nonhuman was excluded).

It is certainly recommended taking visit to doctor and get medical treatment as soon as possible. As I mentioned previously, the doctors would give antibiotics treatment then followed with other treatment.

Tularemia in Hamsters

A case that happened in January or February 2004 in America was a shocked for everyone. A boy reportedly infected with tularemia after being bite by his precious hamster. Tularemia was had never been associated with hamsters before, but after the case, now people should aware that their pet hamsters were potential host of tularemia. The case was start in when the boy’s family bought 6 hamsters from Denver, unfortunately not long after – approximately about a week – they bought the hamsters, the 6 of them was died caused by diarrheal disease, and one of those hamsters bite the boy before it died.

Move forward, a week later after the bite, the boy was exhibited symptoms of fever and axillary lymph nodes. Even though had been treat with amoxicillin clavulanate, the symptoms was kept persistent and won’t disappear. In this point, the boy’s family immediately bring him to the doctor and throughout some tests, the result was clear that boy was infected with bacterium F. Tularensis. After that, the boy condition was getting better with the treatment of ciproflaxacin.

The interesting part is that during the boy’s illness, many hamsters that have been sold in Denver pet store (the store where the boy bough the hamsters) was died due the same cause. In Russia, tularemia was indeed associated with hamster hunting, but never linked to pet hamster at all. So, based on this incident, now hamsters are become potential host of tularemia or bacterial blood-poisoning disease.

Another fact about this disease to keep in mind: there’s difference between the potential risk of tularemia in human and hamster. In human, tularemia would not cause the death of it victim (not as we know until now), but once a hamster infected with the bacteria, only within 48 hours hamster often died because of it. Once more again, tularemia was contagious and most of the time a hamster that positively infected by it would suggested getting euthanized due the safety of the owner.

So, what kind of symptoms appears on hamster that infected by the bacteria: the symptoms included loss of appetite or anorexia, depression or dull expression, and rough hair coat. The bacterium distribution was the same as human, throughout the flies, ticks, and contaminated food, water, and air. Diagnose result would revile after runs test to the hamster.

This is the end of all things you should know about bacterial blood-poisoning in hamster. Take a good care for you and your beloved hamster, my dear friends!