# New disease identified in pet turtles



## News Bot (Oct 5, 2009)

*Published On:* 05-Oct-09 07:05 PM
*Source:* ABC News

A researcher has identified the first Australian case of a captive turtle being infected with a highly contagious disease, which has the potential to spread to humans.

*Go to Original Article*


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## Noongato (Oct 6, 2009)

Its like staph, well thats not that bad. I got staph from scratching a mozzie bite once. You can get it from anything.
I wonder how many parents ordered their kids to get rid of their turtles after reading that. Poor buggers


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## Tsubakai (Oct 6, 2009)

Its been a little misrepresented/misinterpreted by the journos. The analogy to Staph was with regards to the fact that it may be a part of the turtles normal bacterial flora but becomes a problem when the animals are immunocompromised (ie. from bad husbandry). I have inside knowledge as my wife is the author of the paper and was fielding calls all day. The media were trying to get a 'sensational' angle on it to make it sound more exciting.


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## euphorion (Oct 6, 2009)

Tsubakai, certainly sounds that way  darn journos. to people that keep herps its all a little bit over the top, but you can imagine to the average joe reading that it sounds rather awful!


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