Tucker, shut the cluck up!

A few weeks ago, she  the Salmonella outbreak had only 100 confirmed victims, someone sent me Tucker’s Friday segment “asking” about the CDC warning of the risks of poultry and Salmonella.

The Fox News host invited Tiara Soleim, a “poultry enthusiast” and former contestant on “The Bachelor,” onto his show Friday night to discuss her love for cuddling chickens and her distaste for the CDC.

Like I said, Tucker, shut the cluck up!

As of June 17, 2021, a total of 474 people infected with one of the outbreak strains have been reported from 46 states (see map). Illnesses started on dates ranging from December 15, 2020, to June 4, 2021 (see timeline).

Age information was available for 471 people. Their ages range from less than 1 to 97 years, with a median age of 31 years, and 139 (30%) are young children under 5 years. Of 466 people with sex information available, 269 (58%) are female. Of 334 people with information available, 103 (31%) have been hospitalized. One death has been reported from Indiana.

The true number of sick people in an outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses. This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for Salmonella. In addition, recent illnesses may not yet be reported as it usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak.

State and local public health officials are interviewing people about the animals they came into contact with the week before they got sick. Of the 271 people interviewed, 209 (77%) reported contact with backyard poultry before getting sick.

On May 7, local public health officials in California collected samples from a sick person’s duck environment for testing. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) showed that the Salmonella Hadar found on the ground and in the duck’s poop and sleeping area match the outbreak strain.

On June 1, public health officials in Arizona collected samples from a sick person’s chickens and the chicken environment for testing. WGS showed that the Salmonella Hadar found on chickens, their roost, and a water source match the outbreak strain.

WGS was also used to identify any predicted antibiotic resistance for bacteria from 382 sick people’s samples, 1 animal sample, and 9 environmental samples. Of the 392 samples, 159 (41%) were predicted to be resistant to one or more of the following antibiotics: amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (1.0%), ampicillin (1.3%), chloramphenicol (0.5%), cefoxitin (1.0%), ceftriaxone (1.0%), ciprofloxacin (0.3%), streptomycin (38.5%), sulfamethoxazole (2.3%), tetracycline (37.2%), gentamicin (1.5%), and Kanamycin (0.5%). CDC’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) laboratory is currently conducting standard antibiotic susceptibility testing.

Most people with Salmonella illness recover without antibiotics. However, if antibiotics are needed, some illnesses in this outbreak may be difficult to treat with some commonly recommended antibiotics and may require a different antibiotic choice.