Washing hands prevent salmonella infection

Cuddly chicks and adorable ducklings are very appealing to young children, but with the delight comes serious risk of Salmonella infection, according to a letter in the current issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.

Medical epidemiologist, Dr Tony Merritt, said transmission of Salmonella infection to children from ducklings and chickens is well documented in the United States and United Kingdom, but not in Australia.

Dr Merritt investigated a cluster of Salmonella agona cases among children from childcare centres who had been visited by animals from a single local hatchery.

At each show, the children saw an egg hatching, watched day-old ducklings swim and had the opportunity to hold a day-old chick or duckling, and to touch an adult chicken.

"Details of gastrointestinal illness were sought from childcare centres that had hosted visits from the hatchery," Dr Merritt said.

"This identified seven laboratory-confirmed cases in six children and one staff member, with onsets within two to 12 days after a visit from the hatchery animals to the childcare centres," he said.

Environmental sampling at the hatchery found Salmonella agona was present in the egg incubator, faeces from day-old hatchlings returning from a show with children, faeces from young chicks and ducklings in the brooder cage, duck faeces from their yard, corn meal used in the preparation of feed for all poultry, and rat droppings in the feed preparation and storage areas.

As a result of the investigations, a number of new procedures, based on guidelines from South Australia, helped prevent further Salmonella infection in students and staff. The procedures included supervised hand washing after handling the animals, avoiding carpeted areas for the show, adequate cleaning of obvious faecal contamination and disposal of the water used by swimming ducklings into the sewerage system.

"As animal visits to childcare centres are highly valued by children and carers, appropriate guidelines should be widely promoted to the childcare sector and the petting zoo industry to reduce the risks these visits pose," Dr Merritt said.

"The petting zoo guidelines developed in South Australia are an excellent resource and NSW Health is currently developing a fact sheet on the topic," he said.

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

CONTACT: Dr Tony Merritt, 0409 603 015

Judith Tokley, AMA, 0408 824 306