Easter animals can make children ill
BY CHARLOTTE SANDERS SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

Easter time is quite often when adults consider giving live animals to children. Some of these living gifts can actually make children ill. Young animals, especially chicks and ducklings, frequently harbor salmonella or other germs in their intestinal tracts.

The animals shed these germs in their droppings. Children are not aware of these germs and they have more frequent hand-to-mouth contact and are less likely to practice hand washing after handling their pets. Numerous reports are received by the health department from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documenting outbreaks of salmonellosis associated with handling chicks and ducklings.

But it is not just Easter time that can be the problem. Households that raise fowl, especially chicks, ducklings, goslings, pheasants or turkeys, have also been reported to have salmonellosis outbreaks.The symptoms of salmonellosis can range from diarrhea, fever, bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps and vomiting. Infants, if infected, are particularly susceptible to severe salmonellosis. Everyone is susceptible to salmonellosis. To prevent the transmission of salmonella from chicks, ducklings and other young fowl to humans, persons should avoid contact with feces and carefully wash their hands with soap and water after handling young fowl or anything that has come in contact with them. Chicks, ducklings and other young fowl may not be appropriate pets for children and should not be kept in households with infants, children less than five years old or immunocompromised persons. Charlotte Sanders is registered sanitarian with the Cherokee County Health Department.