# Transfer Of Diseases From Piranhas To Humans



## Water Wolf (Aug 6, 2011)

Recently I have been reading about bacteria, such as campylobacter, and other diseases that may be transmitted from fish to humans. Has anyone here ever suspected that they became ill from contact with their piranha tank? Any experiences or expert advice would be appreciated. Some of these diseases are pretty scary and many have long term effects!


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## noob (Aug 17, 2005)

wanna post some links to this bio-disaster you speak of?

sounds interesting, id like to have a read on it any kind of journals or experiments or research done on this stuff?


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## memento (Jun 3, 2009)

_Campylobacter_ is found in the intestines of many wild and domestic animals. 
The bacteria are passed in their feces, which can lead to infection in humans via contaminated food, meats, water taken from contaminated sources.
So normally when you like most people do, wash your hands after being busy in your tank, you should be fine.

But....

There is a 2004 study on this matter called "Fish: a potential source of bacterial pathogens for human beings"

_ABSTRACT: Human infections caused by pathogens transmitted from fish or the aquatic environment are quite
common and depend on the season, patients' contact with fish and related environment, dietary habits and the
immune system status of the exposed individual. They are often bacterial species facultatively pathogenic for both
fish and human beings and may be isolated from fish without apparent symptoms of the disease. The infection source
may be fish kept for both for food and as a hobby. Human infections and intoxications with the following bacteria
have been recorded: Mycobacterium spp., Streptococcus iniae, Photobacterium damselae, Vibrio alginolyticus, V. vulnificus,
V. parahaemolyticus, V. cholerae, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, Escherichia coli, Aeromonas spp., Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus
aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium botulinum, C. perfringens, Campylobacter jejuni, Delftia acidovorans,
Edwardsiella tarda, Legionella pneumophila, and Plesiomonas shigelloides. Fish tissue histamine intoxications of people
have frequently been described. The purpose of the present paper was to elaborate an overview of significant bacterial
causative agents of human diseases transmitted from fish used as food or by handling them._

Full study in pdf is attached.


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