Лента.ру12 hours agoHealth1 min readRussia

Hedgehogs in the countryside can carry rabies and other infections, veterinarian warns

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Veterinarian Yulia Nemtseva warned that hedgehogs in the countryside are dangerous and can carry the rabies virus through saliva when bitten or scratched, as well as other infections: tetanus, salmonellosis, leptospirosis, dermatophytosis and fungal skin lesions, as well as tick-borne diseases through parasites on the needles.

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Hedgehogs are common in summer cottages, where they are sometimes viewed as harmless animals, but veterinarians warn of the risks of infections transmitted through bites, scratches or contact with needles.

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You shouldn’t treat hedgehogs in your dacha as harmless pets. They are dangerous and can carry the rabies virus, as Yulia Nemtseva, candidate of medical sciences and veterinarian, recalled in an interview with RT.

According to her, the animal's sharp teeth or dirty needles work like a syringe, deeply injecting saliva - this is what contains the virus. In addition, these mammals carry other serious infections, the interlocutor emphasized.

“Tetanus – the risk is especially high with deep, contaminated needlesticks. Salmonellosis - bacteria are found on the surface of the animal’s body; infection occurs through dirty hands. Leptospirosis (Vasiliev-Weil disease), dermatophytosis (ringworm), fungal skin infections,” Nemtseva listed. In addition, hedgehogs often have ticks on their needles, which can lead to encephalitis and borreliosis if they come into contact with them.

It is not recommended to handle the animal with bare hands. If there is a need to move an animal, it is better to use thick gardening gloves or cloth. If you are bitten, you should immediately wash the wound under running water and soap for 10-15 minutes and treat the damage with an antiseptic, for example, chlorhexidine, the veterinarian advised.

Then you must go to the emergency room. Even if a hedgehog appears healthy outwardly, it may be a carrier of the virus, since the incubation period of the disease is asymptomatic. “Any violation of the integrity of the skin (bite, scratch, deep needle prick) requires consultation with a doctor,” the specialist explained.