What happens if you eat a sick chicken? See Top Chicken Diseases That Affect Humans

There are some diseases that can be transmitted from birds to humans and cause chicken diseases in humans. In this article, we will acquaint you with the symptoms of the most common infectious diseases that a person can get from birds.

Chicken and diseases

Contrary to the prevailing stereotype, not wild and agricultural birds are the greatest danger in terms of the spread of infectious diseases that a person can get, but the ornamental species of birds that many people buy not in specialized stores but in spontaneous markets. To date, there are about 90 pathogens of various diseases transmitted from birds to humans.

A List of diseases that most often people get infected with from chicken:

1. salmonellosis;
2. ornithosis;
3. false tuberculosis (yersiniosis);
4. campylobacteriosis;
5. newcastle disease.

Chicken diseases that are often not contracted by humans:

• tuberculosis;
• bird flu;
• toxoplasmosis;
• pseudomonas;
• colibacillosis;
• giardiasis;
• rabies;
• pasteurellosis;
• listeriosis;

Also, a potential threat to humans can be caused by pathogens of such diseases:

• aspergillosis;
• food poisoning with staphylococcal toxins, coccidiosis toxins or Bacillus cereus;
• histoplasmosis;
• fever of the western Nile;
• mosquito encephalitis.

All of the above diseases are transmitted from bird to person through:

• airborne droplets or through the saliva of a bird;
• if the rules of personal hygiene are not respected;
• eating poorly heat-treated eggs or poultry;
• when feces fall from the poultry to food.

Chicken diseases symptoms and cures:

Pathogens (rod of the genus Salmonella) settle in the small intestine and begin to secrete a toxin that leads to inflammation, affects the nervous system and disturbs the tone of the vessels. The patient has nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, weakness, abdominal pain and fever. The disease begins to manifest itself 2-72 hours after infection. In some cases, a person does not get sick himself but becomes a carrier and a danger to others. Treatment of salmonellosis is carried out by replenishing the lost fluid. Antibiotics and etiotropic preparations are used in its generalized forms.

• Ornithosis (or parrot disease, psittacosis)

The causative agents of the disease (Chlamydia psittaci) penetrate the respiratory tract and after 7-14 hours a person has signs of pneumonia. The patient raises the temperature to high figures (39-40 degrees), there is a dry cough and chest pain when breathing. Further, the causative agent can penetrate into the blood and cause the development of general intoxication of the body. When the chlamydia of the liver, nervous system, spleen, myocardium or adrenal glands are affected, the patient develops characteristic symptoms. To treat this disease and prevent its complications, antibiotics are used.

• False tuberculosis (yersiniosis)

Pathogens (Yersinia enterocolitic) can cause the appearance of various symptoms. The most common disease occurs against a general toxic syndrome (fever, headache, weakness, pain in muscles and joints, deterioration of appetite, etc.).

In the gastrointestinal form of yersiniosis, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea appear in the patient with a general intoxication. In more rare cases, this disease is accompanied by arthralgia (joint pain) or exanthema (rashes on various parts of the body, mainly on the lower parts of the hands or feet), burning in the palm and flaking. Treatment of yersiniosis is carried out with the help of antibiotics and detoxification agents.

The causative agents of the disease (Campylobacter) after 1-5 days (sometimes several hours) after propagation into the intestine cause a fever, general weakness, pain and aching muscles, abdominal pain (especially often on the right and around the navel), vomiting the first days of the disease and frequent diarrhea. For the treatment of the disease, rehydrating preparations, probiotics, enzyme preparations and, in rare cases, antibiotics, are used.

The disease is caused by a virus that penetrates the human body through the respiratory tract and provokes acute catarrh of the upper respiratory tract and an increase in temperature. In some cases, it can be accompanied by conjunctivitis. When children are infected with the virus, brain damage can occur.

Prevention of the chicken related diseases

Measures to prevent chicken related diseases are extremely simple. By observing them, it is possible to significantly reduce the risk of contracting an infectious disease. Preventive measures are aimed not only at preventing infections from pets or agricultural birds but from their wild counterparts, which we can face on the streets or in nature.

A set of preventive measures and recommendations for the prevention of infectious diseases from birds includes:

• Buy chicken only from proven sellers;
• Timely clean up for domestic or agricultural pests, observing precautions (use gauze dressing, gloves);
• Do not place a cage with a bird near the bed or in the kitchen;
• Wash hands thoroughly after contact with a domestic or wild bird;
• Poultry or eggs are eaten only after adequate heat treatment;
• Poultry meat is to be cut only on special boards and thoroughly washed;
• Do not feed wild birds from your hands;
• When processing carcasses of agricultural or wild birds, it should be carried out in a well-ventilated area or on the street;
• Do not eat the meat of birds with signs of diseases (droppings on feathers, pus in the nasal sinuses, exhaustion, etc.);
• Do not buy meat from birds or eggs in spontaneous markets;
• Do not feed raw meat or the insides of birds to domesticated cats and dogs.

Chicken diseases that cause paralysis are particularly dangerous.

Diseases that a person can get from birds are extremely high, but, observing precautionary measures, they can be resisted. The danger of contracting these infectious diseases lies in wait for us at every step: in the park, at home, in nature, in meat shops and other places. Be careful!