CDC Warns People To Stop ‘Kissing’ and ‘Snuggling’ Live Poultry, Because Salmonella

Chickens are food, not pets, and people getting lovey-dovey with backyard flocks seem to be one of the main causes of Salmonella outbreaks in the U.S. this year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out an “Outbreak Advisory” on June 1, where they interviewed 228 of the 372 victims of Salmonella poisoning this year. Of those 228 people, 190 (83 percent) of them admitted to coming into contact with live “backyard” poultry before getting sick.

With this crucial information in hand, the CDC basically said to cut that shit out, or at least thoroughly wash your hands after playing with those cuddly chickens or ducks.

Scariest of all, 36 of the those affected by Salmonella are children under 5, so parents, make sure you wash your kids’ hands after fowl play and keep an eye on them so they don’t start licking them, because that’s what little kids do. They lick everything.

The four major health tips provided were to wash your hands, don’t allow live poultry in your house, don’t let small children play with them unsupervised, and don’t snuggle, kiss, or eat around the birds.

If we can keep this chicken love under control, we can all avoid Salmonella outbreaks.