Ducks, babies, and salmonella??

[Shayrae4]

I just got our three ducklings and I’m so excited! I also have a 3 year old and a 9 month old (human) baby. Haha. we are going to be diligent about hand washing after handling and my 9 month old won’t have much direct contact with them, but I’m wondering if I need to change my clothes after holding them like this, and then holding my 9 month old? And yes, my baby’s face and hands do touch my shirt in the same spots.

 

[sourland]

How about using a towel while cuddling the ducklings ?

 

[KaleIAm]

Congratulations on your duckling babies! They are adorable.

To be the absolute safest, yes you would change your shirt, and anything else that touched anything the ducklings have touched.

https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/get-facts-about-salmonella#infected

"If people get Salmonella on their hands or clothes, they can spread the bacteria to other people, objects, and surfaces."

 

[Pollo Blanco]

Saw a show on food safety quite some time ago.

One of those shows that played like a reenactment.

Gal cuts up a raw chicken on a cutting board. Next, she chopped lettuce without cleaning the board.

So the lettuce goes into the salad bowl and the question is asked, 'can you get salmonella poisoning if you were now to eat the lettuce'. The answer was no.

Next, the ranch dressing was poured over the lettuce. 'Now, the salmonella has something it can grow in and the salad has enough salmonella to make the family sick'.

Kids who grow up in households with dogs have stronger immune systems.

 

[Isaac 0]

Saw a show on food safety quite some time ago.

One of those shows that played like a reenactment.

Gal cuts up a raw chicken on a cutting board. Next, she chopped lettuce without cleaning the board.

So the lettuce goes into the salad bowl and the question is asked, 'can you get salmonella poisoning if you were now to eat the lettuce'. The answer was no.

Next, the ranch dressing was poured over the lettuce. 'Now, the salmonella has something it can grow in and the salad has enough salmonella to make the family sick'.

Any object that touches raw chicken has the expected outcome of containing whatever bacteria is present on said chicken; the chance of infection is increased if the bacteria is inoculated onto a rich media to grow in (thus increasing bacterial concentration). However, there is still a potential risk of infection if someone/thing touches any object that has come in contact with raw chicken, and has not been properly disinfected/cleaned.
Your post is full of dangerous information.

"You Can Take Steps to Prevent Food Poisoning​

If chicken is on your menu, follow these tips when shopping, cooking, and eating out to help prevent food poisoning:

• Place chicken in a disposable bag before putting in your shopping cart or refrigerator to prevent raw juices from getting onto other foods.
• Wash hands with warm soapy water for 20 seconds before and after handling chicken.
• Do not wash raw chicken. During washing, chicken juices can spread in the kitchen and contaminate other foods, utensils, and countertops.
• Use a separate cutting board for raw chicken.
• Never place cooked food or fresh produce on a plate, cutting board, or other surface that previously held raw chicken.
• Wash cutting boards, utensils, dishes, and countertops with hot soapy water after preparing chicken and before you prepare the next item.
• Use a food thermometerExternalexternal icon to make sure chicken is cooked to a safe internal temperature of 165°F.
• If cooking frozen raw chicken in a microwavable meal, handle it as you would fresh raw chicken. Follow cooking directions carefully to prevent food poisoning.
• If you think the chicken you are served at a restaurant or anywhere else is not fully cooked, send it back for more cooking.
• Refrigerate or freeze leftover chicken within 2 hours (or within 1 hour if the temperature outside is higher than 90°F)"

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/chicken.html

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I come from a family full of nurses, Doctors and vets along with having ducks while my children were babies. I was always told to change clothes and thoroughly wash hands. I was also told that it's even more important when children are under the age of 1 because under 1 is when any illness that seems even minor to an adult or older child can be deadly to a baby.

Example/story: When my son had just turned 1, RSV was going around the daycare. Because the older kids only acted as if they had a mild cold, the daycare workers did not think and when the other babies left for the day they moved my son with the older kids so some of the daycare workers could go home. My son caught RSV which turned into pneumonia, a double ear infection and a sinus infection. He was almost hospitalized, but my insurance covered a hospital grade nebulizer which the hospital happened to have a unopened spare on hand and we lived only 5 minutes down the road. They said that if he had been under the age of 1 even by a month, he would have had to of been hospitalized, they would not of been able to give him the medications in the dosage required for his body to recover and there was a greatly increased chance he could have died.

 

[Pollo Blanco]

Any object that touches raw chicken has the expected outcome of containing whatever bacteria is present on said chicken; the chance of infection is increased if the bacteria is inoculated onto a rich media to grow in (thus increasing bacterial concentration). However, there is still a potential risk of infection if someone/thing touches any object that has come in contact with raw chicken, and has not been properly disinfected/cleaned.
Your post is full of dangerous information.

"You Can Take Steps to Prevent Food Poisoning​

If chicken is on your menu, follow these tips when shopping, cooking, and eating out to help prevent food poisoning:

• Place chicken in a disposable bag before putting in your shopping cart or refrigerator to prevent raw juices from getting onto other foods.
• Wash hands with warm soapy water for 20 seconds before and after handling chicken.
• Do not wash raw chicken. During washing, chicken juices can spread in the kitchen and contaminate other foods, utensils, and countertops.
• Use a separate cutting board for raw chicken.
• Never place cooked food or fresh produce on a plate, cutting board, or other surface that previously held raw chicken.
• Wash cutting boards, utensils, dishes, and countertops with hot soapy water after preparing chicken and before you prepare the next item.
• Use a food thermometerExternalexternal icon to make sure chicken is cooked to a safe internal temperature of 165°F.
• If cooking frozen raw chicken in a microwavable meal, handle it as you would fresh raw chicken. Follow cooking directions carefully to prevent food poisoning.
• If you think the chicken you are served at a restaurant or anywhere else is not fully cooked, send it back for more cooking.
• Refrigerate or freeze leftover chicken within 2 hours (or within 1 hour if the temperature outside is higher than 90°F)"

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/chicken.html

It was a show on Discovery Network, and yes, children in households with dogs have stronger immune systems than children in households without dogs.

Any more daily conjecture?

 

[Pollo Blanco]

I just got our three ducklings and I’m so excited! I also have a 3 year old and a 9 month old (human) baby. Haha. we are going to be diligent about hand washing after handling and my 9 month old won’t have much direct contact with them, but I’m wondering if I need to change my clothes after holding them like this, and then holding my 9 month old? And yes, my baby’s face and hands do touch my shirt in the same spots.

Keep in mind while ducks can have salmonella, it's rare.

I believe that the Health Department will do cheap or free testing.

Growing up I had some friends with a hobby farm; ducks, chickens, goats, horses, cats and dogs.

They were never sick and we played in the pastures and I didn't get sick either.

 

[KaleIAm]

Keep in mind while ducks can have salmonella, it's rare.

I believe that the Health Department will do cheap or free testing.

Growing up I had some friends with a hobby farm; ducks, chickens, goats, horses, cats and dogs.

They were never sick and we played in the pastures and I didn't get sick either.

I found this interesting link on salmonella in backyard flocks.

https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/backyardpoultry-05-21/index.html


It doesn't specify ducks from chickens, or clarify the time frame for the 163 infections. But 163 isnt many considering percentages. Still, when one has a baby I understand that one doesn't want to be responsible for it happening to their baby and using an abundance of caution for the first years is a choice parents are entitled to make. With that choice there are consequences that follow - perhaps diminished immune systems from living inside a Clorox wiped environment, or even just a life less lived. But it sounds like the original poster is just changing her shirt.

Personally, I'm not careful around my ducks in regards to zoonotic diseases. That doesn't mean there isn't any risk. And I would probably toss my children in the dirt after a certain age. With love, of course - and a play shovel.

 

[Isaac 0]

Any more daily conjecture?

Conjecture or common knowledge?

Growing up I had some friends with a hobby farm; ducks, chickens, goats, horses, cats and dogs.

They were never sick and we played in the pastures and I didn't get sick either.

A friend of mines, newborn daughter passed after being in close proximity to chickens. You can not take an example of a couple of people and apply it to the majority - listen to statistics rather than anecdotal accounts.
Statistics show immunocompromised people particularly the young, and old are most susceptible to salmonella infections.
Taking the simple measure of practicing cleanliness around birds/raw poultry, can save you from a whole lot of trouble in the future.
I'm am done with this thread - only so much one can do for obstinacy.