KDHE Home - News 1999 - News Release
Kansas
Department of Health & Environment
Bill Graves, Governor
Clyde D. Graeber, Secretary
For Immediate Release
Contact: Don Brown, 785-296-1529
Handling Chicks and Ducklings Poses Health Risk
Salmonella Prevention Tips Offered by State Health Officials
In a recent salmonella outbreak in Kansas and Missouri, each of nine reported Kansas cases and at least 26 cases in Missouri were children who had handled live chicks and ducklings often given as Easter gifts, officials from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment report. The Kansas children, age one to 13 years, were all infected with the same strain of the bacterium Salmonella typhimurium. All the children, who live in different areas of the state, had contact with chicks around Easter.
"It may not be a good idea to use chicks or ducklings as pets," says Dr. Gail Hansen, assistant state epidemiologist and state public health veterinarian. "These animals are often infected with salmonella and other bacteria that do not always produce observable illness in the animals, so a lack of symptoms is not a reliable method to determine whether or not an animal is carrying the bacteria. Parents and day-care providers should think carefully before purchasing chicks or ducklings as pets, and school teachers should carefully weigh potential health risks against the educational value of school projects involving animals. It's also a good idea to insist that children make a habit of thoroughly washing their hands with soap and warm water, especially after handling any animal."
Hansen also stated that antibiotic treatment of animals or eggs does not prevent salmonella from being transmitted by live animals.
Symptoms of the illness in humans include abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and headache -- it is often mistaken for the flu. Although salmonella-related illness usually goes away without treatment, it can become life-threatening. Infants, children, the elderly, and people with health problems bear the greatest risk.
Salmonella may also be transmitted by eating contaminated food, especially poultry, meats, eggs, fish, and milk. KDHE recommends thorough cooking and proper sanitation practices, particularly hand washing, to prevent the spread of salmonella in restaurants, cafeterias, kitchens, and at summer barbeques and picnics.
In 1998 there were 107 cases of Salmonella typhimurium reported in Kansas, about one quarter of them in children under four years of age. The exact proportion of cases resulting from contact with live animals is unknown. The investigation of the current cluster of cases continues to identify possible additional cases and the exact method of transmission of the infection.
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