According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), backyard poultry flocks are infecting people with antibiotic-resistant salmonella.
As of April 13, there are 34 confirmed patients infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Saintpaul. Patients are spread across 13 states. The illness began between February 26 and March 31. Of the 27 people with information available, 13 have been hospitalized, meaning the outbreak variant is particularly virulent.
There are likely many more sick people in this outbreak because some people do not receive treatment and others are not specifically tested for salmonella infections, which can mimic other illnesses. The CDC estimates that for every patient identified in a salmonella outbreak, there are 29 undetected cases.
The ages of the patients affected in this outbreak range from less than 1 year to 78 years. Almost half of the patients, 41%, are children under 5 years of age.
Public health investigators are interviewing sick people about animals they had contact with in the week before they became sick. Of the 23 people interviewed so far, 23 reported contact with backyard poultry.
Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of patient samples indicates that the Salmonella strains involved in this outbreak are closely related. This suggests that people involved in this outbreak became ill through contact with the same type of animal.
Investigators in Ohio collected samples from backyard poultry. WGS showed that the Salmonella Saintpaul found in these samples was the same strain found in the sick people.
WGS analysis showed that bacteria from samples from 34 people were predicted to be resistant to fosfomycin. Samples from eight of these patients also had predicted resistance to one or more of the following antibiotics: chloramphenicol, streptomycin, sulfisoxazole, and tetracycline.
Salmonella outbreaks in backyard poultry flocks have become an annual risk, with some outbreaks sickening more than 1,000 people. The 2025 outbreak sickened 559 people and killed two.
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