Backyard Chickens, Cute Trendy spreaders of Salmonella

[missnu01]

Don't get me wrong you should wash your hands, but salmonella was all over the news last year, but not in regards to chickeb

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Weren't there numerous cases of salmonella outbreaks from companies not being on the ball...peanut butter once, and apple juice once...there was more than that recalled for salmonella, but none of the recalls were for poultry or poultry products...so wash hands after handling peanut butter too...lol.
If more people are owning chickens, then more cases of salmonella will be linked to chickens, but it doesn't matter if the chickens passed it or not. Perhaps you ate an infected pb&j while watching your chickens...and then got sick, will it go down that it was the peanut butter or the chickens?

Epidemiologists are trained to look at all sources. They will look at what all the infected people have in common when there's an outbreak. Some salmonella is expected in any population, they only send in the epis when there are more cases than would be considered due to chance/coincidence. And no, not "guessing" it's more than chance, actually calculated that it's more than chance. I would bet that during the peanut butter incident, for instance, most if not all of those affected had eggs in their fridge, money in their wallets, etc. But the epis traced the outbreak back to the peanut products. They would not say it was your chickens when it was the peanut butter. They would test everything in your home for the presence of the pathogen, and even do genetic tests to see if your salmonella came from the same source as the other salmonella in the cluster.

This is science, not guesswork.

 

[Presidential]

This thread sure didn't go the direction I had expected!

My take on the article was just that some people are so out of touch with where food comes from! YES there is a risk of all kinds of bacteria, virus, "germs" as the author writes. Agriculture gets dirt on your hands - and some of that dirt has poop in it! Wash your hands.
...But, that was not the message of this article.

I could visualize the author pulling out her hand sanitizer bottle, just thinking of the "nasty business of animal husbandry" she writes about. Eeewwww! The fact she uses sources like Mortality/Morbidity Weekly when the same information can be found in a zillion less-dramatic publications, speaks volumes to me about her perception of what we do. The concern she writes about a "global pandemic" regarding cute-trendy chickens is over the top, for me.

I would have no problem with an article about the concerns with backyard chickens - IF it wasn't such an alarmist/sensationalized piece written to scare the public from getting their hands dirty in nature! Should we all go to the big-box grocery supermarkets and buy radiated, antibiotic/hormone infused food wrapped under plastic? It wouldn't keep us from salmonella - but, we wouldn't get our hands in the "dirt" either.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

This thread sure didn't go the direction I had expected!

My take on the article was just that some people are so out of touch with where food comes from! YES there is a risk of all kinds of bacteria, virus, "germs" as the author writes. Agriculture gets dirt on your hands - and some of that dirt has poop in it! Wash your hands.
...But, that was not the message of this article.

I could visualize the author pulling out her hand sanitizer bottle, just thinking of the "nasty business of animal husbandry" she writes about. Eeewwww! The fact she uses sources like Mortality/Morbidity Weekly when the same information can be found in a zillion less-dramatic publications, speaks volumes to me about her perception of what we do. The concern she writes about a "global pandemic" regarding cute-trendy chickens is over the top, for me.

I would have no problem with an article about the concerns with backyard chickens - IF it wasn't such an alarmist/sensationalized piece written to scare the public from getting their hands dirty in nature! Should we all go to the big-box grocery supermarkets and buy radiated, antibiotic/hormone infused food wrapped under plastic? It wouldn't keep us from salmonella - but, we wouldn't get our hands in the "dirt" either.

You're right, your first comment didn't come across this way at all. I'm with you that people are out of touch with where food comes from, and aren't taking basic precautions with livestock.

However, I can't agree with you when you say that Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review was a "dramatic" publication choice. It isn't a newspaper or something like that--it isn't "journalism" the way people think of it at all. It's a journal put out by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that includes articles on a wide range of public health topics including epidemiological surveillance notes. The article on the salmonella being spread by backyard flocks was one of those notes.

 

[Daisy8s]

I read that article when it came out. First, the title annoyed me...calling people interested in reclaiming forgotten agricultural practices "trendy" is belittling at best and uninformed at worst. Then again, seeing some of the $1,000 coops here on BYC, not to mention things like chicken aprons and diapers does make me realize there's very little agriculture involved in some backyard flocks.

Second, I calmed down after I actually read the article--it was factual and not as sensationalized as the title suggested.

Third, the author certainly could have included many more facts to put this all into context. For example, the total number of hatcheries in the US could've been listed so people don't think most chicks are coming from one place in OH spreading disease. Also, the rates of people getting ill from salmonella outbreaks due to things like peanut butter also could've been listed, as a comparison to see how "bad" this chicken-related salmonella outbreak really is.

So, no erroneous reporting, but not giving a complete picture either.

 

[Mattemma]

Birds do it too.All those darn sparrows! What about squirrels,deer,and egads raccons and their roundworm laden poo!?!?!?!?
Dogs,cats,rabbits....the list goes on.

Simple prevention for getting infected-wash your hands properly,and wipe surfaces to disinfect.

I would rather get rid of everything else and keep my flock,but thankfully I know how to prevent getting infected.Shoot, I am more worried about getting sal. from a canteloupe than my chickens.

 

[missnu01]

Raccoons have brain eating parasites in their poo...that's the scariest thing ever. One episode of monsters inside me made me terrified o raccoons...

 

[dawg53]

Raccoons have brain eating parasites in their poo...that's the scariest thing ever. One episode of monsters inside me made me terrified o raccoons...

This one:

 

[missnu01]

This one:

There are Actually quite a few episodes where somebody goes blind, or ends up a vegetable and it all gets traced back to raccoons... So now I am more scared to look out and see a raccoon then I would be if there was a lion in my front yard. At least I can see as thusly avoid the lion, but raccoons can leave their poops in the yard and then I might be digging in the yard and end up eating through a tube dead to the world around me...
So now I think of raccoons not as cute little rat bandits, but as "raccoons natures nightmare"

 

[cubalaya]

NPR is a propaganda tool of the federal government paid for by our tax money to spread the liberal, progressive view of the world. they don't want people raising their own food as they clearly want people buying food from the big corporations(monsanto,GMO). this should be defunded along with so many other federal programs that are clearly unconstitutional. i am eating eggs from my chickens for breakfast. what?