A Salmonella outbreak linked to contact with wild songbirds and bird feeders has killed 19 people in eight states, eight of whom have been hospitalized, federal health officials said.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said it is investigating salmonella infections in California, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and the state of Washington, among people from 2 months to 89 years old.
Six cases were reported in Washington and five in Oregon. No deaths were reported.
Public health officials across the country interviewed 13 of the people who were infected and asked them about animals they came in contact with a week before they became ill, the CDC said. Nine said they had a bird feeder, and two reported coming in 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 prevent further cases, the CDC recommends cleaning bird feeders and birdbaths once a week or when they are dirty. People should avoid feeding wild birds with their bare hands, and should wash their hands with soap and water after touching a bird feeder or bath, or after handling a bird.
In California, where three cases of people have been reported, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife warned of an outbreak in February, reporting that it was “flooded with calls” from Californians who discovered sick or dead finches in bird feeders .
Andrea Jones, director of bird conservation for Audubon California, said the state has found that most of the birds affected by the outbreak are pine cones, a finch that spends the winter in California. Pine siskins have flocked in large numbers to California this year, causing the outbreak to spread among the birds.
“It could happen any year, but it was a particularly bad year,” she said. Jones said. “Pine siskins are not very good at social distance.”
Sick birds can often look weak or sluggish, or they may seem to be struggling to breathe, Ms. Jones said. She added that most birds die within 24 hours of being infected by salmonella.
Many pine bags from California are now leaving for Canada, Ms. Jones said, adding that she hopes the outbreak may be coming to an end.
Salmonella bacteria can spread from birds to pets and humans. People can experience diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps from six hours to six days after infection, according to the CDC Children, adults 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems sometimes suffer worse with salmonella, although most people in a week or less without treatment .
Because many people recover quickly and are not tested for salmonella, the CDC said the likely number of cases due to the outbreak was likely to be higher than the number of cases reported.
Approximately 1.35 million cases of salmonella are reported annually in the United States. Of these, about 26,500 require hospitalization and 420 lead to death, according to the CDC