The same Salmonella strain, the same pet lizard, ten years apart

Bearded dragons have been linked to Salmonella outbreaks before,
including a **2012–2014 Salmonella Cotham outbreak involving 160 patients in
35 states**.

**Between 11 January and 10 December 2024, 27 cases of S. Cotham infection
were identified** — 26 confirmed and one probable. **Eighteen were in people
with household exposure to bearded dragons.**

The genetic link across a decade

S. Cotham isolates from **two bearded dragons kept in two patients'
households** were closely genetically related:

• to each other
• to the 2012–2014 isolates
• to the clinical isolates from the 26 confirmed cases

That is the finding. The same strain, in the pet trade, causing human illness
ten years apart. This is not a contaminated batch that passed through; it is a
strain established in the population of animals being sold as pets.

Which is why the report calls it reoccurring rather than a new outbreak.

What owners can do

Bearded dragons pose a continued risk for Salmonella infection. Owners
can reduce it by:

• Limiting the reptile's free roaming — a lizard walking across floors and
  furniture spreads the bacteria over every surface a household touches
• Washing hands after handling the reptile
• **Changing clothing after handling it, and before interacting with an infant
  or young child**

The third one is the specific and easily missed step. Handwashing addresses
hands; a shirt that has held a bearded dragon is then held against a baby.

Young children are the group the advice is built around, and the reason is the
combination of a lower infectious dose and the fact that nobody supervises
what a toddler puts in their mouth.

*Source: Xiaoli L, Huth P, Sherman C, et al. Reoccurring Salmonella Cotham
Outbreak Linked to Pet Bearded Dragons — United States, 2024. MMWR, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.*