§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice the public health laboratory service has given on terrapin importation on health grounds; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Dorrell[holding answer 15 November 1991]: The public health laboratory service (PHLS) has advised that 332W on the available evidence imported terrapins kept as pets do not pose a significant public health problem in England and Wales.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions the occurrence of salmonellosis from pet terrapins in the United Kingdom has been identified by the public health laboratory service.
§ Mr. Dorrell[holding answer 15 November 1991]: The public health laboratory service (PHLS) division of enteric pathogens, which receives laboratory isolates of salmonella from human and non-human sources for detailed identification, has in the past recorded family outbreaks of salmonellosis in households where the same serotype of salmonella has been identified from terrapin tank water. The most recent occasion on which this occurred was in 1979. Since 1979 to date, there have been three occasions (two in 1981 and one in 1982) where the same serotype has been identified in a sporadic case and in water taken from a terrapin tank.
The PHLS communicable disease surveillance centre, which receives laboratory-confirmed reports of human infections, recorded in the period 1986–90 a total of 3,512 outbreaks of salmonellosis. Two of these outbreaks affected people in households where terrapins were kept as pets. However, as no microbiological evidence was reported, the presence of the terrapins could have been coincidental.
Notes:
1. An outbreak represents two or more related laboratory confirmed salmonella infections in humans of whom at least one was ill.
2. A sporadic case is a single case apparently unrelated to other cases.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has received from the public health laboratory service concerning the implications for the United Kingdom of United States data for salmonellosis contamination from imported terrapins.
§ Mr. Dorrell[holding answer 15 November 1991]: The following table shows the total number of laboratory confirmed infections of salmonella reported to the public health laboratory service (PHLS) communicable disease surveillance centre in 1989 and 1990, together with the number of reports received for those salmonella serotypes cited in the past in the United States as being associated with terrapins. The public health laboratory service advises that these serotypes are rare in the United Kingdom and, as can be seen from the table, their numbers declined between 1989 and 1990. Therefore given the available evidence it is difficult to conclude that United States data can be applied to the United Kingdom.
333W
Laboratory reports to the public health laboratory services communicable disease surveillance centre of all and selected salmonellas in faeces (cases and excreters) England and Wales 1989 and 1990 Salmonella serotype Laboratory reports of faecal isolates to communicable disease surveillance centre 1989 1990 All Salmonella 24,649 25,351 S.java 29 29 S.arizonae 8 5 S.poona 8 5
Salmonella serotype Laboratory reports of faecal isolates to communicable disease surveillance centre 1989 1990 S. litchfield 6 3 S. cubana 5 9 S. bispebjerg 1 0 Notes:
1. None of the above reports stated an association with terrapins.
2. One other report of a salmonella (S. typhimurium in 1989) stated an association with terrapins. Further investigation revealed the tank water to be negative, so the finding may have been a chance one.