A salmonella outbreak linked to contact with wild songbirds and bird feeders left 19 people sick in eight states, eight of which were hospitalized, federal health officials said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they were investigating salmonella infections in California, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and the state of Washington in people aged 2 months to 89 years.
Six cases have been reported in Washington and five in Oregon. No deaths were reported.
Public health officials across the country interviewed 13 of the infected people and asked about the animals they came into contact with a week before they fell ill, the CDC said. Nine said they owned a bird feeder and two reported that they came into contact with a sick or dead bird. Ten people said they had pets that had access to or contact with wild birds, the agency said.
To avoid further cases, the CDC recommends cleaning bird feeders and baths once a week or when they are dirty. People should avoid feeding wild birds with their bare hands and wash their hands with soap and water after touching the bird feeder or bath, or after handling a bird.
In California, where three human cases have been reported, the state’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife warned of an outbreak in February and reported that it had been “flooded with calls” from Californians who discovered sick or killed finches in bird feeders.
Andrea Jones, director of bird conservation at Audubon California, said the state found that most of the birds affected by the outbreak were the young birds of pine, a species of finch that spends the winter in California. Pine trees gathered in large numbers in California this year, which allowed the outbreak to spread among birds.
“It can happen in any year, but this has been a particularly bad year,” said Jones. “Crawfish are not very good at social distance.”
Sick birds can often appear weak or lethargic, or they may appear to be struggling to breathe, Jones said. She added that most birds die within 24 hours of being infected with salmonella.
Many falls are now leaving California for Canada, Jones said, adding that he hopes the outbreak is coming to an end.
Salmonella bacteria can spread from birds to pets and humans. People can have diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps anywhere from six hours to six days after infection, according to the CDC Children, adults 65 and older and people with weakened immune systems sometimes experience worse cases of salmonella, although most people recover in a week or less without treatment.
Since many people recover quickly and are not tested for salmonella, the CDC said the actual number of cases resulting from the outbreak was likely to be much greater than the number of reported cases.
About 1.35 million cases of salmonella are reported each year in the United States. Of these, about 26,500 require hospitalization and 420 result in death, according to the CDC