CDC warns close contact with feathered pets causing salmonella infection

The US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) data suggest that too many people were getting too close to their feathered friends, which was causing Salmonella infections and outbreaks.

In 2016, a record number of cases of vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal cramps and fever were recorded with 895 people getting sick with Salmonella from interacting with birds.

This year might even be words with 372 people reported sick from 4 January to 3 May from handling pet ducks, chickens and geese.

Eight multi-state outbreaks had occurred with no deaths but over 70 hospitalisations. According to commentators, these were only recorded cases, but the actual number of cases might be probably be much higher, 20 to 30 times the number. Most people who got Salmonella did not tell the authorities.

Salmonella infections are usually not life threatening, except for those with weakened immune system. The bacteria typically entered through the mouth and caused symptoms to emerge 8 to 72 hours after infection and then several days of sickness followed. While special treatment was not needed in most of the cases, when the vomiting and diarrhoea led to severe dehydration or the bacteria entered the bloodstream, medical care was necessary.

Meanwhile, the CDC said in a statement, ''CDC, many state departments of health and agriculture, and the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service are investigating eight multi-state outbreaks of human Salmonella infections linked to contact with live poultry in backyard flocks.

"These outbreaks are caused by several kinds of Salmonella bacteria: Salmonella Braenderup, Salmonella Enteritidis, Salmonella Hadar, Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i-, Salmonella Indiana, Salmonella Infantis, Salmonella Mbandaka, and Salmonella Typhimurium.

"Epidemiologic, traceback, and laboratory findings link the eight outbreaks to contact with live poultry, such as chicks and ducklings, which come from several  hatcheries.

"In interviews, 190 (83 per cent) of 228 ill people reported contact with live poultry in the week before illness started."