Guinea pig diseases

fertmom · 04-01-2005, 01:36 PM

We used to have guineas eons ago, but I don't remember that they carried any diseases that affect humans.
Yesterday at the hospital we had a 6 year old with high fevers and they were concerned because all his tests came back negative, yet he still has had these high fevers, dizziness and headaches for 4 days. Apparently the family raises guinea pigs and chinchillas and I'm not sure what other animals, but they had 13 guinea pigs who all died within the last 2 weeks and then the little boy got sick so the docs are scratching their heads and wondering if it is related to the gp's.
Does anyone know any diseases that gp's carry that sound like this?
After monkey pox, you never know....

theratlady · 04-02-2005, 09:11 PM

i doubt that guinea pigs "carry" it if its killing them. it sounds more like something was brought into their establishment that has the ability to affect humans and guinea pigs.

fertmom · 04-03-2005, 05:39 PM

Christina, that makes sense. I just hope Wisconsin isn't back in the news again with some new exotic disease. Maybe the child just has a virus.
I just found out that the mother of this child doesn't believe in childhood vaccinations so maybe he has something that could have been prevented and that is what killed the guineas. We may never know.

katescritters · 04-03-2005, 10:37 PM

It's likely a toxin in the water or environment that is hurting/killing both species. Not being vaccinated probably has nothing to do with it. More power to the mother for deciding mercury shouldn't be injected into her little boy.

fertmom · 04-04-2005, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by katescritters

It's likely a toxin in the water or environment that is hurting/killing both species. Not being vaccinated probably has nothing to do with it. More power to the mother for deciding mercury shouldn't be injected into her little boy.

LOL, I don't think so.

hawaiianchinnielover · 04-04-2005, 01:57 PM

I can't think of anything that the guinea pigs would "carry" that would harm the little boy. Probably some sort of virus made its way onto the property. I think that mother should have her little boy get vaccinated, I can only imagine the types of illnesses he could end up with.

fertmom · 04-04-2005, 02:07 PM

I think ratlady made a good point, it was probably something bacterial or viral (I highly doubt it was an environmental toxin or something in the water) that the child picked up that caused the illness in the guinea pigs.
They now think he has some type of meningitis, but the antibiotics are not taking care of it and he is still spiking temps. They are transferring him to Children's Hospital, so I will probably never know what caused it unless it happens to hit the news for some reason.
I was told by the nurse taking care of the little boy that the family is not too hygienic so maybe that is also part of the whole picture.