Hello Reddit! I am excited to talk with you today. I’m Dr. Megin Nichols and I’m a veterinary epidemiologist at CDC. I work on multistate outbreaks of Salmonella and E. coli infections that come from exposure to animals or animal products. I’ve worked on outbreaks of illnesses linked to backyard flocks, petting zoos, small turtles, livestock, and even puppies! In 2017, we saw the largest number of Salmonella infections from contact with chickens and ducks in backyard flocks. There were over 1,000 illnesses, and those are just the ones reported to us. For every one person with Salmonella infection we identify as part of these outbreaks, we estimate another 30 people are sick too. This means in the US last year alone there might have been as many as 30,000 illnesses as a result of contact with live poultry! The good news is there are simple prevention steps you can take to stay healthy and enjoy your backyard flock. Ask me anything! I’ll be back at 1:00 p.m. EDT and I’ll do my best to answer as many of your questions as I can. Additional resources: · Visit CDC’s webpage on keeping backyard flocks: https://www.cdc.gov/features/salmonellapoultry/index.html · Read up on last year’s outbreaks: https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/live-poultry-06-17/index.html · Find additional information on keeping chickens, ducks, and other animals: https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pets/farm-animals/backyard-poultry.html