How to protect yourself from pet-borne salmonella

Q: I read about children getting sick with salmonella from pet frogs. We have two frogs. My boys are 7 and 9 years old. Do I need get rid of the frogs?

A: Most cases of salmonella come from contaminated food. But you can also catch salmonella from certain animals, including reptiles (infection from pet turtles is common), amphibians, chicks and young birds.

Frogs usually aren't the culprits, however, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported an outbreak of salmonellosis caused by African dwarf frogs. Most of the infections were in children, about 50 percent were in children less than 5 years old and 80 percent were in children less than 10 years old.

You don't have to get rid of your pet frogs. According to the CDC, a few simple precautions can keep your family salmonella-free:

• Make sure that everyone who touches the frogs, or any part of the aquarium, washes his or her hands thoroughly with soap and water afterward.

• Don't clean the aquarium near where food is prepared. If you clean the aquarium in the bathtub, wash the tub out well afterward with water and bleach.

• Keep the aquarium in a common area, especially if your child is under age 5. This will allow you to better supervise your child's contact with the pets.

Follow the same precautions if you have a turtle or other reptile as a pet, or keep chicks or birds. In general, it's a good idea to teach your child to wash his or her hands really well (or use hand sanitizer) after touching any kind of animal.