Backyard flocks proving risky

One person has died and 465 people have been infected in a salmonella outbreak linked to backyard chicken flocks in 42 states, reports the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of those infected, 86 people were hospitalized and one person died in Oklahoma, the CDC reported. Of those stricken, 31 per cent were children younger than five. The illnesses started in January and continued into June. 

Epidemiological evidence pointed to chicks and ducklings, often bought online or from farm stores.

Last year, bacteria linked to backyard poultry flocks sickened more than 1,100 Americans in 49 states; two died and 219 were treated in hospitals.

In 2018 there were outbreaks in 47 states that sickened 334 people and 56 were hospitalized. Nobody died of salmonella linked to backyard flocks that year.