Salmonellosis Infection
Ah’lanea Hernandez
SCI/163
April 1st, 2012
Professor Camessa Lee
Salmonellosis Infection
What is foodborne illness? According to a medical dictionary, foodborne illness is an acute gastrointestinal infection caused by consuming food contaminated with pathogenic, bacteria, toxins, viruses, prions or parasites. Such contamination was caused by improper food handling, preparation, or storage of food. Contacts between food and pests, especially flies, cockroaches, and rodents are a further cause of contamination of food. Foodborne illness can be cause by adding pesticides or medicine to food or consuming or by accidently consuming naturally poisonous substances. That is why foodborne illness can also be called food poisoning.
Salmonella
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as the CDC, estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or forty-eight million people) get sick, one-hundred twenty eight thousand are hospitalized, and three-thousand die of foodborne diseases. However, many foodborne illness cases are unreported. One of the most common bacterial viruses it the United States is Salmonella.
Salmonella is an intestinal infection cause by Salmonella enterica bacteria. Salmonella bacteria can be found in food products such as raw poultry, eggs, and beef, and sometimes on unwashed fruit. Food prepared on surfaces that previously were in contact with raw meat or meat products can in turn, become contaminated with the bacteria. This is called cross-contamination. Salmonella can also be spread from person to person when an infected individual does not thoroughly wash his or her hands after using the toilet. Health care providers and food handlers who are infected with Salmonella can contaminate food during preparation or while feeding a patient if their hands have not been washed thoroughly.
Diagnosing Salmonellosis requires testing a clinical specimen (such as stool or blood) from an infected person to distinguish it from other illnesses that can cause diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. It usually takes several days before the test results are ready. Symptoms of Salmonella usually start 12 to 72 hours after the bacteria has been swallowed. Symptoms include abdominal cramps, headache, fever, severe watery diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting may also occur. Once Salmonella is identified in the specimen, additional testing can be done to further characterize the Salmonella. Salmonella are divided into serotypes according to structures on the bacteria’s surface. The Salmonella infection begins with bacteria entering the epithelial cells of the intestinal mucosa. To prevent them from multiplying, special cell organelles called autophagosomes are activated. These encircle the invaders and then become absorbed in other organelles called lysosomes containing certain special digestive enzymes, which break down the bacteria into their constituent parts. However, studies explains how autophagosomes recognize salmonella bacteria.
According to the CDC, in October 2014, there was a major outbreak linked to live poultry in backyard flocks that spread through 43 states and infected 363 people. Among persons who reported the date they became ill, illnesses began between February 3, 2014 and September 27, 2014. Ill persons ranged in age from younger than 1 year to 95 years, and the median age