Abstract
Exposure to sea turtles may be increasing with expanding tourism, although reports of problems arising from interaction with free-living animals appear of negligible human health and safety concern. Exposure both to wild-caught and captive-housed sea turtles, including consumption of turtle products, raises several health concerns for the public, including: microbiological (bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi), macrobiological (macroparasites), and organic and inorganic toxic contaminants (biotoxins, organochlorines and heavy metals). We conducted a review of sea turtle associated human disease and its causative agents as well as a case study of the commercial sea turtle facility known as the Cayman Turtle Farm (which receives approximately 240,000 visitors annually) including the use of water sampling and laboratory microbial analysis which identified
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
,
Aeromonas
spp.,
Vibrio
spp. and
Salmonella
spp. Our assessment is that pathogens and toxic contaminants may be loosely categorized to represent the following levels of potential risk:
viruses
and
fungi
=
very low
;
protozoan parasites
=
very low
to
low
;
metazoan parasites, bacteria
and
environmental toxic contaminants
=
low
or
moderate
to
high
; and
biotoxin contaminant
=
moderate
to
very high
. Farmed turtles and their consumable products may constitute a significant reservoir of potential human pathogen and toxin contamination. Greater awareness among health-care professionals regarding both potential pathogens and toxic contaminants from sea turtles, as well as key signs and symptoms of sea turtle-related human disease, is important for the prevention and control of salient disease.