Don’t Touch the Bird, People
Look, we get it. We are all a little lonely now. Longed for love. And although we have been in isolation for over two months already, we are still adapting to this lifestyle. Like many others, you may be tempted to acquire – and then kiss and / or snuggle – a bird. But the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) strongly advises you not to: they may contain the dangerous salmonella bacteria.
As we learned in school, spring (that is, right now) is the time when chicks and ducklings are usually born. And whether you have been raising poultry for some time or new to poultry due to the pandemic (they can technically be pets and / or food sources), you should know that no matter how cute they are from playing with them can get bad.
What you need to know about outbreak
There is currently an outbreak of Salmonella , which has infected at least 27 people in 28 different states, linked to people interacting with poultry, according to the CDC. About a third of these people have been hospitalized, and 30 percent of them are children under the age of five.
The CPB warns that chickens and ducklings may look perfectly healthy and clean and show no signs of illness, but may be infested with salmonella. As a result, the organization recommends that you always wash your hands immediately after touching backyard poultry, their eggs, or anything in the area where they live and roam.
But beyond that, the CDC is also urging people not to “kiss and hug poultry in their backyard and then touch their face or mouth.” Obviously people do this because this is the second time the CDC has felt the need to issue such a warning within one year. (Last time – September 2019 – more than 1,000 people in 49 states were infected with Salmonella.)
Signs of salmonella infection
If you’ve actually hugged poultry recently and are feeling unwell, you can watch for these signs and symptoms of Salmonella infection according to the CDC:
- Diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps six hours to six days after exposure to bacteria.
- The illness usually lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment.
- In some cases, the infection can spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and then to other parts of the body, requiring hospitalization.
- Children under 5, adults 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to have severe illness.
Basically, the rules for backyard poultry are very similar to those associated with the coronavirus: be sure to wash your hands, don’t kiss or get too close to the bird. Yes, chickens and ducklings are adorable, but let’s try to limit ourselves to one flash at a time.