new chicken owner and campylobacter hell

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emabie

emabie

Hatching
5 Years
Jul 25, 2014
8
0
7
Upton, MA
Hi everyone! I'm a new chicken owner w a new flock of 9 birds that are five mnths old. We keep them confined to coop and run and are absolutely in love with them. This week my husband became very ill with dehydration bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Back and forth to the hospital and an episode of hallucinating all night long that scared me and my three young children out of our minds. had to have the cops bring him to the er it was crazy. Finally after a week of hell the docots told us my husband has this campylobacter bacterial infection. He is so sick and still can't eat anything he had iv fluids again today and doc gave him antibiotic. I'm so scared this could b from our chickens and feel aweful. My kids r young but we try to be careful w hand washing and we don't wear our "chicken boots" in the house. My 10 mth old son was sick last week also w bloody diarrhea as well but his doc said it was probably a virus worried it could b same bacterial infection. I'm hoping someone could tell me if I should take my birds to the vet for this and if the medicated chick starter they are on would have any bearing on this bacteria. Could flies have spread this? Should I be attempting to disinfect everything in my coop as well as my home? I understand there could b other causes for his contraction but would b ever grateful to know what to do of it is our girls. Thank u for taking the time to read all this.
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Sorry about your birds! It probably isn't a bacterial infection but you never know. I would defiantly post and ask here https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures

Yes, make sure you and you kids wash your hand and maybe put some probiotics in the chickens' drinking water.

Hope they heal!

Glad you joined!!
 
Thank u for the advice and support I really appreciate it. I went to college for animal maintenance but this is a new one on me.
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Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Oh, I am so sorry! I have no idea whether or not this came from your flock. But I do know this much, most diseases are species specific, (not all, but most) In other words, chickens can't pass things on to you or you to them. But you might do some research here on line to figure this one out.

Enjoy your flock and I hope your family gets back to good health soon!
 
Welcome to BYC
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Glad you joined us! I'm so sorry to hear about your DH and the nightmare experience you had
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Unfortunately I don't know much about transmittable diseases between chickens and humans, but I have seen some studies on the topic that were published online, so I'd recommend doing some google searches using keywords such as the disease + chickens. Hopefully they are not the cause of this!
 
Thank u so much :) my daughter and I have been chicken lubers for a long time and having them has been so much fun. We are not totally confident it came from our birds even though it is one possibility. I am realizing now we may never know exactly where he contracted it. My ds pedi took a fecal sample and we should find out soon if it caused his illness last week. I'm feel confident enough to say that if my ds has this also it most likely came from our girls. He is always on the ground crawling around on the floor eating stuff. DH rested is doing better today and ate his first meal in five days. The CDC is going to call us I guess and I'm still waiting to speak w our vet. It's just weird because DH isn't actively involved w our birds and they have yet to lay. Idk anyways thanks for the well wishes I'm super excite to have a place to talk about our girls.
 
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Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. You've been given some good advice by the other BYC members and a good link by Mountain Peeps. I will say a prayer for your husband's complete recovery.
 
So my son's pedi just called and he tested positive for this bacteria also. I'm just praying his body will tollerate it better than my husbands did.
 
I did a google search on this, and the material I read said chickens were the most likely cause of this. Oddly enough I don't think I've ever seen that information on here. I'm guessing your son passed it along(?) to his father, since he had lots of contact with the birds and his dad did not.

Is there anything to treat your birds with so they would not carry/spread this anymore?

Truly hope both will make full recoveries.
 
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