By michael - March, 12th 2014

Salmonellosis is a type of food poisoning caused by the Salmonella enterica bacterium. There are many different kinds of these bacteria.Salmonella serotype Typhimurium and Salmonella serotype Enteritidis are the most common types in the United States. You can get salmonellosis by eating food contaminated with salmonella. It could be from reptiles, baby chicks and ducklings, and small rodents such as hamsters are particularly likely to carry Salmonella. You should always wash your hands immediately after handling one of these animals, even if the animal is healthy. Adults should also be careful that children wash their hands after handling reptiles, pet turtles, baby chicks or ducklings, or small rodents. Beef, poultry, milk, and eggs are most often infected with salmonella. But vegetables may also be contaminated. Contaminated foods usually look and smell normal.

People who keep small poultry flocks may be at an increased risk for salmonellosis, but the infections are preventable, researchers say.

The growing local foods movement has sparked a rise in the number of people keeping small flocks of chickens or ducks at home, and a rise in human infections with Salmonella bacteria has been linked to birds from mail-order hatcheries, according to a new study.

“We have seen an increasing number of outbreaks of Salmonella infections in people being sick that have been linked back to having chickens and ducks in your backyard,” said Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh, who led the study.

Barton Behravesh, a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Public Health Service, is affiliated with the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

She and her colleagues reviewed the available research since the rising infection rates have been in conjunction with …

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