CDC issues new warning: don’t snuggle or kiss your family’s pet chickens

Harrigan and her family keep these four hens as pets. The Harrigan brood's laying and strutting and clucking proved so popular in its Little Neck neighborhood that other humans on the block constructed their own coops for their own tenants to keep up with the Harrigans. "Since we got chickens, all the neighbors decided they wanted chickens," Harrigan said. The CDC put out a warning asking chicken owners not to snuggle or kiss their birds for fear of contracting salmonella. "Chickens actually have salmonella naturally and they don't get sick from it, but humans do, and the main symptoms are diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain," Dr. Robert Glatter said. He didn't need to read the CDC report detailing the rise in salmonella infections from pet chickens, ducks and turkeys in 2015 to recommend against keeping chickens as pets. "The main issue is that people just don't wash their hands after they handle them, especially children," Glatter said. "So I am really against this, I think it's just not a good practice in general."...more