To the Editor: Travelling animal shows, with animals such as young poultry, rabbits and reptiles, commonly visit childcare centres in Australia. Transmission of Salmonella infection to children from ducklings and chickens is well documented in the United States1,2 and United Kingdom,3 but not in Australia.

We investigated a cluster of Salmonella agona cases in children, identified through routine laboratory surveillance. Initial investigations identified a potential association with visits to childcare centres by a single local hatchery.

At each show, children saw an egg hatching, watched day-old ducklings swim and had the opportunity to hold a day-old chick or duckling, and to touch an adult chicken.

Details of gastrointestinal illness were sought from childcare centres that had hosted visits from the hatchery. This identified laboratory-confirmed cases with onsets between 14 April and 6 May 2002 in seven people. All attended one of four childcare centres; six were children and one was a staff member. Onset of illness occurred 2–12 days after the hatchery visit. A total of 316 children attended shows by the hatchery between 9 April and 8 May.

Environmental sampling at the hatchery recovered Salmonella agona from multiple sites over repeated visits. These included the egg incubator, faeces from day-old hatchlings returning from a show with children, faeces from young chicks and ducklings in the brooder cage, duck faeces from their yard, corn meal used in the preparation of feed for all poultry, and rat droppings in the feed preparation and storage areas. No Salmonella were detected in samples collected from the corn meal supplier.

New procedures based on guidelines from South Australia4 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention5 were introduced for all shows from 8 May. These included supervised handwashing after handling animals, avoiding carpeted areas for the show, adequate cleaning of macroscopic faecal contamination and disposal of the water used by swimming ducklings into the sewerage system.

No further cases were identified among the 251 children who attended shows over the subsequent two weeks until the hatchery cancelled all further visits.

We conclude that infection was acquired through contact with chicks and ducklings from a single hatchery, and that the outbreak was halted by the introduction of measures emphasising handwashing after animal contact.

Contact between young children and young animals, both of whom have naïve immune systems, represents a special ecological niche. Young poultry are particularly vulnerable to salmonella infection and subsequent high level excretion, and young children are similarly vulnerable.

As animal visits to childcare centres are highly valued by children and carers, appropriate guidelines should be widely promoted to the childcare sector and the petting zoo industry to reduce the risks these visits pose. The petting zoo guidelines developed in South Australia4 are an excellent resource and NSW Health is currently developing a fact sheet on the topic.