human salmonellosis cases related to backyard poultry

every year we have outbreaks of human salmonellosis related to backyard poultry. according to the latest numbers from the cdc (november 18, 2020), there have been 16 multi-state outbreaks of salmonella illness this year linked with poultry in backyard flocks. this year we have had the highest number of cases ever!

as of november 18, 2020, a total of 1,659 people infected with one of the outbreak strains of salmonella have been reported from all 50 states.

    • 326 people (34% of those with information available) have been hospitalized.
    • one death in oklahoma has been reported.
    • 24% of ill people are children younger than 5 years of age.

you can see how your state is doing at https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/backyardpoultry-05-20/map.html

stay healthy around your backyard flock by washing your hands, keeping your birds outdoors, and supervising young children around your flock.

2 replies to “human salmonellosis cases related to backyard poultry”

  1. thanks a lot,
    how does human salmoneliosis happened? were the flocks exposed to human excretas or ?

    please provide more information , that will be more helpful.
    thanks so much

    1. poultry, and most animal species, have salmonella in their digestive tracts. as a result, their fecal material has salmonella. any humans who handle poultry can become contaminated with the salmonella and if it enters their digestive tract (as with kids sucking thumbs, people eating food without washing hands first, kissing birds, etc) they become sick with the salmonella. that is how human salmonellosis occurs. the poultry flocks have salmonella – they don’t need to be exposed to human excreta in order to get salmonella in their digestive tracts.
      the same thing can happen if people handle turtles or snakes – they have salmonella as well. if that gets into the humans stomach by improper handing of the reptiles, they too will get salmonellosis.

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