Gurnee boy latest to be sickened by frog-borne salmonella

A Gurnee boy who contracted salmonella from a water frog is one of at least 83 cases that have surfaced in the United States, triggering a recent alert from federal health officials.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials are working with health departments in several states in the investigation of a human salmonella typhimurium outbreak related to water frog contact.

Water frogs typically live in fish tanks or aquariums. One popular species is the African dwarf frog.

Reptiles and amphibians are a source of salmonella contamination, according to the CDC. The agency stresses that hands must be washed after touching them.

Lake County Health Department spokeswoman Leslie Piotrowski said the 6-year-old Gurnee boy was sickened by salmonella with the same genetic type seen in water frogs. Piotrowski said the agency recently received the CDC's water frog salmonella alert.

Piotrowski said the case was reported in November, but investigators were unable to talk to the boy's family about how the frog contact occurred.

"We don't know the source," Piotrowski said this week.

Salmonella is commonly known as a bacterial disease that can be contracted from contaminated food, with diarrhea, headache and nausea as symptoms. It also is spread when infected food handlers don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom.

CDC officials said there were 83 salmonella cases traced to water frogs as of Dec. 21. It initially was believed the outbreak began in early December, but further investigation has shown cases likely go back to April and have surfaced in 31 states.

Anyone with a weakened immune system, children younger than 5 years old and the elderly should avoid contact with reptiles and amphibians, states the CDC alert.

CDC spokeswoman Arleen Porcell-Pharr said Wednesday all of the agency's experts are off this week and unable to discuss the water frog salmonella outbreak.