Parents warned about buying Easter chicks

Salmonella outbreaks in three states tied to baby birds People who buy baby chicks for their children for Easter may also be carrying a dangerous visitor home – salmonella, which causes diarrhea, fever and stomach pain. Salmonella outbreaks in Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio were tied to baby chicks in a study published Thursday in the Centers for Disease Control's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The Nebraska outbreak, which involved children in a daycare center, occurred when a parent brought in chicks. Baby birds, including chicks, ducklings, goslings and turkey, have long been linked to salmonella outbreaks. The bacteria from the chicks' intestines contaminate the animals' environments and feathers. Handling the chicks can pass the disease, which infects an estimated 1.4 million people in the U.S. annually, to humans. "Children can be exposed to bacteria by simply holding, cuddling, or kissing the birds," according to a CDC web site. "Persons who purchase baby poultry remain unaware that contact with these birds put them and others" at risk for getting sick from salmonella, the authors of the paper said.