--- title: Guinea Pigs May Be Giving People Salmonella, the CDC Says description: Guinea pigs may be behind an eight-state salmonella outbreak that infected nine people, according to the CDC. Rodents can carry salmonella. canonical: https://time.com/5188526/guinea-pigs-salmonella/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-06T21:37:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:33:18.367Z article:section: Health og:title: Guinea Pigs May Be Giving People Salmonella, the CDC Says og:description: Nine people have gotten sick so far og:url: https://time.com/5188526/guinea-pigs-salmonella/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97c72817ac8dd852/698929e3fb4eac1539895ed4/guinea-pigs.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4608 og:image:height: 2592 og:image:alt: Close-Up Of Guinea Pigs In Pet House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Guinea Pigs May Be Giving People Salmonella, the CDC Says twitter:description: Nine people have gotten sick so far twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97c72817ac8dd852/698929e3fb4eac1539895ed4/guinea-pigs.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Guinea Pigs May Be Giving People Salmonella, the CDC Says > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=055529d8-61eb-4d2a-acd2-ce6a43468386&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1)  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 6, 2018 9:37 PM UTC  "Photo Taken In Germany, Ershausen" "Photo Taken In Germany, Ershausen"Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 6, 2018 9:37 PM UTC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday issued an icky warning about pet guinea pigs: they may be spreading salmonella. The CDC has identified nine people who became sick due to a strain of salmonella bacteria that can likely be traced back to contact with pet guinea pigs, [according to a report from the agency](https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/guinea-pigs-03-18/index.html). The cases affect residents of eight different states and were reported between July 2015 and December 2017\. One person was hospitalized, but no deaths have been reported. Salmonella is a serious bacterial infection that results in gastrointestinal distress and can develop into a life-threatening condition if infection spreads beyond the intestines, [according to the CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/index.html). It is typically contracted by eating contaminated food or water, but rodents can also carry and transmit strains of the bacteria, even when they’re kept as domesticated pets. Of seven patients interviewed by the CDC, four said they had been in contact with pet guinea pigs in the week before showing symptoms. Genome sequencing also showed that the strain responsible for the outbreak was similar to bacteria collected from a guinea pig belonging to one of the sick people, pointing to a link between the animals and the disease’s spread. While the last case in the outbreak was reported in December, the CDC reminds guinea pig owners to wash their hands after any contact with the pets or their habitats, to avoid playing with the rodents in a manner that could cause bites and to clean pet cages and supplies outside, if possible. Families with children younger than five, pregnant women and elderly adults also shouldn’t have pet rodents because of the risk of infection, according to the report. Guinea pigs are only the latest probable source of a salmonella outbreak. In the past few months, the herbal supplement [kratom](http://time.com/5166910/kratom-salmonella-outbreak/?iid=sr-link2), [chicken salad](http://time.com/5173378/salmonella-outbreak-chicken-salad-fareway/?iid=sr-link1) and [dog food](http://time.com/money/5160340/dog-food-recall-salmonella/?iid=sr-link3) have all been blamed for spreading the infection. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5188526/guinea-pigs-salmonella/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5188526/guinea-pigs-salmonella/"},"headline":"Guinea Pigs May Be Giving People Salmonella, the CDC Says","datePublished":"2018-03-06T21:37:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:33:18.367Z","description":"Nine people have gotten sick so far","url":"https://time.com/5188526/guinea-pigs-salmonella/","keywords":["Public Health","onetime","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97c72817ac8dd852/698929e3fb4eac1539895ed4/guinea-pigs.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97c72817ac8dd852/698929e3fb4eac1539895ed4/guinea-pigs.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Close-Up Of Guinea Pigs In Pet House","caption":"Close-Up Of Guinea Pigs In Pet House","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5188526/guinea-pigs-salmonella/","name":"Guinea Pigs May Be Giving People Salmonella, the CDC Says"}}]}] ```