The federal government issued a reminder last week: You shouldn’t kiss a chicken, or cuddle with it or bring it into your home.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a report last week on salmonella outbreaks across the U.S.
The report states:
“Many ill people in these outbreaks reported bringing the live poultry into their homes, and others reported kissing or cuddling with the live poultry. These behaviors increase a person’s risk of a Salmonella infection.”
The CDC interviewed 95 of the people who came down with salmonella and found that 82 of them “reported contact with live poultry in the week before their illness began.”
At the top of the report, the CDC adds this helpful bullet point advice: “Do not let live poultry inside the house.”
This year there have been 181 cases of non-deadly salmonella infection in the US, and 33 people have been hospitalized. The infection usually resolves within a week or so, but causes abdominal cramps, diarrhea, fever, and in rare cases, death, the CDC reports.
When the Washington Examiner asked how many people had actually admitted to kissing or cuddling a chicken, the CDC refused to respond. They told Quartz they don’t “have that level of data.”
