A 3-week-old Florida infant was killed and 21 other small children across the U.S. were sickened by a strain of Salmonella Pomona associated with small pet turtles over an 8-month period from 2006 to 2007.

The report, released today by investigators from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and elsewhere, provides a detailed and tragic account of the newborn’s death.

"On February 20, 2007, a female infant aged 3 weeks with a 1-day history of poor feeding and lethargy was evaluated in an emergency department at a Florida hospital. The patient was transferred immediately to a tertiary-care pediatric hospital; on arrival, she was febrile and in septic shock. Antibiotics were administered. She died on March 1. Cultures of cerebrospinal fluid and blood samples yielded Salmonella serotype Pomona.

"The parents of the patient were interviewed by the Florida Department of Health. A family friend had purchased a small turtle with a carapace of 1.25 inches from a flea market in north central Florida in mid-November 2006. The turtle was purchased as a pet and given to the patient’s family in late January 2007. After the death of the infant, laboratory testing of the turtle and its environment was performed by the Florida Bureau of Laboratories. A fecal sample from the turtle yielded S. Pomona. The S. Pomona isolates from the patient and the turtle were indistinguishable by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

"A total of 19 other S. Pomona isolates from 19 patients in 11 states (Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas) with a PFGE pattern closely related to the isolate from the Florida patient and turtle were submitted to PulseNet, with isolation dates ranging from October 2, 2006 to April 23, 2007."

I had my own encounters with pet turtles before when I was a kid before a 1975 ban was imposed on the sale or distribution of small turtles measuring less than 4 inches was instituted.

As cases of turtle-associated salmonella infection continue to occur and as legislators, primarily from Louisiana continue to push for the ban to be lifted, the CDC report concludes that the ban "likely remains the most effective public health action to prevent turtle-associated salmonellosis."