CDC monitoring salmonella outbreak, including 5 people in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The CDC and public health officials are investigating multi-state outbreaks of salmonella, including five people in Ohio. 

Dr. Joanna Failor with OhioHealth noted the outbreak of salmonella illnesses is linked to contact with backyard poultry.  

“The current strain that they’re seeing is related to the backyard chickens that many of us may have or our neighbors have,” Failor said. “It has been shown on almost every case, or I believe, actually every case, has been resistant to at least one of the typical medicines that we would use.” 

According to the CDC, more than 180 people have been infected with the outbreak strains of salmonella. About 34% of people have been hospitalized. Over a quarter of those infected are children under the age of 5.   

“The under-five are a lot less reliable with their hand washing and they’re much more likely to be touching their face and not really handling chickens appropriately,” Failor said. “If kids or adults really can’t keep fluids down and they’re just starting to get lightheaded, dizzy, really weak. Those would all be reasons that they need to seek treatment.” 

Though the majority of people can recover from illness without treatment, preventing exposure and sticking to the basics is the best way to avoid infection.   

“It goes back to making sure you handle everything properly, hand wash, cook your eggs, throw away cracked eggs,” Failor said. “Hopefully if there is one single source that is the explanation for all of these, then they’ll need to look into their hand hygiene practices.” 

Health officials explained the true number of cases is likely much higher than what has been reported, but the CDC is collecting data to identify the source of the outbreak.