Volume 25, Number 11—November 2019
Research Letter
Psittacosis Outbreak among Workers at Chicken Slaughter Plants, Virginia and Georgia, USA, 2018
Table
Characteristics of chicken slaughter plant workers tested during outbreak of psittacosis, Virginia and Georgia, United States, 2018
Characteristic | No. (%) workers |
||
---|---|---|---|
Confirmed, n = 13 | Other, n = 67 | All, n = 80 | |
Sex | |||
M | 10 (77) | 36 (54) | 46 (58) |
F |
3 (23) |
31 (46) |
34 (42) |
Symptoms | |||
Fever | 13 (100) | 57 (85) | 70 (88) |
Cough | 11 (85) | 52 (78) | 63 (79) |
Muscle aches | 10 (77) | 47 (70) | 57 (71) |
Headache | 9 (69) | 59 (88) | 68 (85) |
Chills | 9 (69) | 51 (76) | 60 (75) |
Gastrointestinal* |
6 (75) |
13 (59) |
19 (63) |
Clinical | |||
Radiologically confirmed pneumonia | 13 (100) | 30 (45) | 43 (54) |
Hospitalized | 11 (85) | 18 (27) | 29 (36) |
Intensive care |
3 (23) |
0 |
3 (4) |
Job duties† | |||
Evisceration | 8 (62) | 34 (51) | 42 (53) |
Live-bird handling | 3 (23) | 6 (9) | 9 (11) |
Cleaning | 2 (15) | 5 (7) | 7 (9) |
Packing or shipping | 1 (8) | 13 (19) | 14 (18) |
Inspection or quality assurance | 1 (8) | 6 (9) | 7 (9) |
Other‡ | 0 | 5 (7) | 5 (6) |
*Data for this symptom were not collected in Virginia; numbers reflect only Georgia numerators and denominators (confirmed, n = 8, other, n = 22; total, n = 30).
†In Virginia, 1 patient did not report job duty; in Georgia, 2 patients with confirmed illness and 3 other patients reported multiple job duties.
‡Includes maintenance and human resources (plant floor–based).
1These authors contributed equally to this article.
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Page updated: October 16, 2019
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