Can you get diseases or parasites from working with chickens?

Question

I know someone who raises chickens as a hobby and is always out there feeding them and making nesting boxes for them, etc. She hasn't been feeling well lately, she's been sick for almost 3 weeks with nausea, she vomits at least once a day. She has an appetite but then later in the day she gets a tightening in her stomach and throws up. No fever. She also has diarrhea. Could it be something she could have caught from the chickens? I have no other idea of what it could be.

Answer 1

A 3-week illness isnt salmonella (unless its gall bladder disease), it isnt E. coli H 0157, and it isnt avian flu. Youre not likely to get E. coli H 0157 from handling birds, but you sure could get salmonella. Whether you could get avian flu depends on where you live and how incredibly unlucky you are.

She should most certianly be checked for Campylobacter- the combination of a long-standing illness with diarrhea and vomiting along with handling of chickens makes this an important diagnosis to look for. The doctor will have to request special handling of a stool culture for this.

Of course, she may something entirely unrelated to chickens, but a through checkup is warranted after 3 weeks of vomiting and diarrhea.

Answer 2

Eugene here is WRONG about bird flu -- H5N1 bird flu is NOT a "parasite" (it's a VIRUS) and it is NOT being spread by wild birds -- it originated in the factory farms of China and spread from there to wild birds and backyard flocks by selling sick chickens as cheap meat to local villagers and from using chicken droppings from the farms as fish pond food (a common practice in China). Don't believe me? Read this well-documented article "Fowl Play: The Poultry Industry's Central Role in the Bird Flu Crisis" at:
http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=194

Besides, your friend's symptoms don't sound like bird flu. It sounds like some sort of intestinal tract problem. Salmonella or E. coli are possibilities, especially if she handles the droppings and is not careful about washing her hands. Also, if she has well water, she should get it tested -- there might be something contaminating the water. In any case, she should definitely see a doctor. Regarding external parasites (such as bird lice, mites, ticks, etc.) these generally do not transfer from poultry to humans because the body temperature of a human is lower than that of a chicken, so chicken parasites are not comfortable living on us. They might occasionally crawl on us if we are handling chickens, but won't stay long.

Answer 3

Yes u can. Take for example the current H5N1 virus. This virus is like a parasite and is transmissible from birds (which include chickens of course) to humans via feces, nasal fluids and contaminated blood. Most people think that chicken farms are infested with diseases and viruses. Instead these chickens are frequently vaccinated for diseases and viruses and home chickens are in fact more contagious and more dangerous. They come in contact with other wild birds more frequent and therefore allow transmission of viruses from wild birds to domestic chickens. Your sick friend should really see a doctor before succumbing to dehydration. Most deaths are not actually caused by dehydration but by acidosis.

Answer 4

Yes.
Certain strains of E.coli such as Escherichia coli O157:H7 are toxigenic (some produce a toxin very similar to that seen in dysentery) and can cause food-poisoning usually associated with eating contaminated meat (contaminated during or shortly after slaughter or during storage or display). Severity of the illness varies considerably; it can be fatal, particularly to young children, the elderly or the immunocompromised, but is more often mild. E. coli can harbor both heat-stable and heat-labile enterotoxins.
Although in most healthy adult humans such a strain would probably cause no more than a bout of diarrhea, and might produce no symptom at all, in young children, or in people who are or have recently been sick, or in people taking certain medications, an unfamiliar strain can cause serious illness and even death. A particularly virulent example of such a strain of E. coli is E.coli O157:H7.

Answer 5

Birds are very dirty animals in that they can pass a number of diseases to humans. Anyway, your friend should go see a doctor about her symptoms, it seems like three weeks is quite a long time to be suffering with something that could be taken care of or at least identified.

Answer 6

Bird flu

Answer 7

Possibly salmonella poisoning. Get it checked out

Answer 8

yes birdflu