A new outbreak of salmonella that has sickened 93 people in 23 states of the US has been traced to a hatchery in Ohio that supplies live chicks and ducklings by mail order, federal health officials said on Wednesday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say in an initial announcement dated 30 May:
“Findings of multiple traceback investigations of live chicks and ducklings from homes of ill persons have identified a single mail-order hatchery in Ohio as the source of these chicks and ducklings.”
The age range of infected people is from under 1 to 100 years. 18 of them have been hospitalized and officials are also investigating one death that may be related to this outbreak. Over a third of the people who are sick are children aged 10 and under.
Tests confirm that the strains involved are Salmonella Infantis, Salmonella Newport, and Salmonella Lille.
The Ohio hatchery behind this latest outbreak is the same one that was linked to an outbreak of Salmonella Altona and Salmonella Johannesburg infections in 2011.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture inspected the facility in May 2012 and made recommendations for improvements, reports the CDC.
The investigation, which is still ongoing, is a collaboration between the CDC, public health and agriculture officials at state and federal levels. They are using a national network called PulseNet to identify cases of illness that could be part of the outbreak.
PulseNet labs carry out tests that fingerprint foodborne disease-causing bacteria to identify individual strains at the DNA level. The results are then sent to a CDC database that officials can consult and make a rapid comparison of DNA patterns to identify strains.
The people sickened in this latest outbreak began falling ill between the beginning of March and the middle of May. So far, officials have interviewed 41 of them.
Of the 41 people interviewed, 37 reported touching live chicks and ducklings in the week leading up to falling ill.
32 of them said they had bought chicks and ducklings, and had receipts with vendor information. They had bought the chicks and ducklings to keep in their backyards, either to produce eggs or meat, or to keep as pets.
The CDC advises consumers who come into contact with live poultry to follow these recommendations to avoid becoming infected with salmonella:
- Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water immediately after touching live poultry or anything in the area where they live and roam.
- Adults should make sure young children wash their hands thoroughly and use soap as well as water.
- If soap and water are not readily available then use hand sanitizer until you are able to use soap and water to thoroughly wash your hands.
- Thoroughly clean cages, feed and water containers and any other materials you use for raising and caring for live poultry.
- Don’t let elderly people, children under 5, or people who are ill or have weak immune systems touch live poultry, even chicks and ducklings.
- Never “snuggle” or kiss ducks, hens, chicks, or any form of live poultry, and when you are around them, avoid touching your mouth, and never eat when you are with them.
- Never allow live poultry to come inside the house, not even into bathrooms, and especially not where you prepare, serve, or store food. This includes not only the kitchen and indoor eating areas, but also outdoor eating areas, such as a patio.
More and more people, as a move toward a greener, healthier lifestyle, are choosing to keep live poultry in their back yard. If you do this, you need to bear in mind the health risks, especially to children, and take steps to minimize them, says the CDC, who have a webpage on
Written by Catharine Paddock PhD