Key Points:
- Seven people in six states have gotten sick from Salmonella after contact with backyard poultry.
- Backyard poultry, like chickens and ducks, can carry Salmonella germs even if they look healthy and clean.
- You can get sick from touching your backyard poultry or anything in their environment, touching your mouth or food, and swallowing Salmonella germs.
What You Should Do:
- Always wash your hands for 20 seconds after touching birds, their supplies, or collecting eggs.
- Use a pair of dedicated shoes or boots for your coop and do not wear them inside your house.
- Keep birds and supplies outside the house to prevent spreading germs into your house.
- Protect young children, who are more likely to put items in their mouths or not wash hands fully, from getting sick as their immune systems are still developing. Do not let children younger than 5 years old touch the birds (including chicks and ducklings) or anything in the area where the birds live and roam.
What Businesses Should Do:
- Hatcheries should use best management practices to help prevent Salmonella in poultry and stores should source poultry from hatcheries that take steps to reduce Salmonella contamination.
- Clean and sanitize poultry display areas between shipments of new poultry.
About Salmonella:
- Most people infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps 6 hours to 6 days after being exposed to the bacteria.
- The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most people recover without treatment.
- In some people, the illness may be so severe that the patient is hospitalized.
- Children younger than 5, adults 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to have severe illness.
If you have questions about cases in a particular state, please call that state’s health department.
Thank you,
CDC News Media Branch
404-639-3286
