By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico

The New Mexico Department of Health is warning people against giving baby poultry as gifts on Easter Sunday this weekend because of chicks and ducklings’ links to salmonella risk.

Children who handle, snuggle or keep poultry inside homes face increased exposure to salmonella bacteria, which causes salmonellosis disease, DOH said in a news release on Tuesday morning.

“Even healthy-looking birds can shed salmonella, which can cause serious infection,” Sarah Shrum Davis, an epidemiologist with the bureau, said in a statement. “To prevent infection, children under 5 should not handle poultry. Make sure older children wash their hands after handling birds or their eggs. And do not kiss or snuggle live poultry.” 

Davis told Source NM in an interview on Tuesday that salmonella normally resides in poultry’s gastrointestinal tract without making the birds sick, and when the birds poop, it is present in their feces.

Keeping poultry inside the home “highly increases” the risk of exposure to salmonella, she said.

“People can be concerned — baby chicks and ducklings are small — so maybe they keep them in the kitchen or somewhere warm where they’re safe from predators,” Davis said. “We advise against that.”

The same applies if someone spends time in a bird enclosure, even if they don’t touch the birds themselves, she said. Salmonella can live on surfaces for some period of time so if someone touches a surface where a bird has been, like their bedding, it is possible to be exposed.

“That’s why we recommend that people always wash their hands after they clean the coop, handle anything or touch anywhere the birds might have been,” Davis said. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Boses)

Symptoms of salmonellosis typically include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps, according to DOH, but more serious infections can spread from people’s intestines to the blood stream and throughout the body, which can be fatal if left untreated.

A higher risk of developing a serious infection and complications exists among infants, young children, older adults, transplant recipients, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

When Source NM asked the New Mexico Department of Agriculture about whether chicks and ducklings also carry any risk of spreading a strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) called H5N1, spokesperson Jenny Green told Source NM in an email that “the risk of salmonella is far greater than that of HPAI at this time.”

H5N1 was detected in a commercial chicken flock in Roosevelt County last April, and in a private backyard flock of chickens, ducks and geese in Bernalillo County in February.

Green wrote that as young people in 4-H and FFA programs participate this spring in “Chick Days” at farm supply retailers, NMDA and the New Mexico Livestock Board urge people to prevent the spread of both pathogens.

Green shared preventive measures including properly handling and cooking eggs, buying chicks from hatcheries approved by the National Poultry Improvement Plan, isolating new chicks for a month, wearing dedicated clothing and shoes when handling poultry, and reporting sick birds to the Livestock Board by calling 505-841-6161. 

NMDA is also pointing people to best practices it published in March and from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in April.

For salmonella, DOH recommends preventive measures such as: thoroughly washing hands with soap and water after touching live baby poultry or anything in the area where they live and roam; not allowing live baby poultry inside homes or in kitchens and pantries or other areas where food or drink is prepared, served or stored; and consulting with a doctor if anyone experiences abdominal pain, fever or diarrhea.

As many as 130 cases of salmonellosis are reported in children each year in New Mexico, according to data compiled by the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Bureau at DOH.

In 2022, New Mexico had 465 total cases of salmonellosis among adults and children, according to the latest available DOH data.

DOH cited a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that salmonella causes about 1.35 million infections in the U.S. each year.

As of Feb. 24, CDC was investigating a salmonella outbreak among eight people, some of them children, linked to pet geckos in California, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Goldberg for questions: info@sourcenm.com.

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