title: Alerting pregnant women to the risk of reptile-associated salmonellosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Reptile- and amphibian-associated salmonellosis poses significant risk to infants and young children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised that reptiles and amphibians should not be kept in households with children younger than 5 years old.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report a 5-day-old newborn with Salmonella bacteremia and meningitis who survived but with severe developmental delay.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cases of infants with reptile- and amphibian-associated salmonellosis, a preventable and devastating disease, continue to be reported. We propose that obstetricians should be the front line in counseling expecting families that reptiles should not be kept in households with infants and young children. By the time a family first visits the pediatrician, the warning may be too late.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA. amilsto1@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Aaron M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Milstone
authors.forename: Allison George
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Agwu
authors.forename: Frederick J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Angulo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care; D012104:Reptiles; D012480:Salmonella Infections / Q000209:etiology*