Handle With Care: Chick Could Make Kids Sick

Mar 30, 05:38 AM

Current Headlines: By Julie Anderson, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

Mar. 30--Listen up, peeps.

If you're thinking a fluffy chick or fuzzy duckling would make a perfect Easter gift for your kids, a federal health agency advises sticking with the stuffed -- or candy -- variety.

Baby birds can carry salmonella, a bacteria that can infect people and cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Thursday.

Although the concern isn't new, the agency has fresh evidence to back up its advice: its weekly bulletin outlines three outbreaks of salmonella last spring linked to baby poultry, including one in Nebraska.

"It's an ongoing problem," said Dr. Annette Bredthauer, Nebraska's state public health veterinarian. "It comes to a head every Easter, and we try to get public information out there that buying one or two chicks or ducks is not in the best interests of the animals themselves or the kids."

The Nebraska Health and Human Services System received a report last May of two children with laboratory-confirmed infections, according to the CDC bulletin. Both children attended the same child care center and handled pet chicks brought in by a parent. Bredthauer said the center was in Merrick County, which is southwest of Columbus, Neb.

State public health laboratories eventually identified the same strain of the bacteria in 56 patients in 21 states. The other outbreaks were in Michigan and Oregon. In all three, a number of birds were traced to separate hatcheries. The Nebraska investigation pinpointed a New Mexico operation. None of the hatcheries or stores had violated laws regulating the sale of baby poultry, the federal agency noted.

Steve Probst, who owns Northwest Feed & Grain in Omaha and WashCo Feed & Supply in Blair, Neb., said he stopped selling one or two baby birds at a time more than three years ago. The store instead orders young birds for customers who want to raise poultry, typically a minimum of 25 at a time.

"In years past, we would sell them, and we'd get calls on Monday asking whether we'd buy them back," he said. "That's not what we're about. We're not a pet store."

Probst said people shouldn't be afraid to buy poultry. Both the stores and the hatcheries that supply them are inspected and regulated.

The CDC report, however, noted that a number of patients in the outbreak had not received information on preventing transmission of salmonella.

Efforts to prevent the potential spread of infection appear to have taken off at petting zoos. Exhibits at the Nebraska State Fair, the Henry Doorly Zoo and Vala's Pumpkin Patch near Gretna have set up hand-cleansing stations.

Probst set them up for the past two years at the River City Roundup petting zoo, which he runs. He hatches chicks in an incubator for children to watch.

"We did encourage everyone to wash their hands," he said. "We were pretty proactive on that one."

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Copyright (c) 2007, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

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