Salmonella Infections

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Prevention and Risk Factors
• Treatments and Therapies

Learn More

• Related Issues
• Specifics

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Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Women
• Patient Handouts

Summary

Salmonella is the name of a group of bacteria. In the United States, it is a common cause of foodborne illness. Salmonella occurs in raw poultry, eggs, beef, and sometimes on unwashed fruit and vegetables. You also can get infected after handling pets, especially reptiles like snakes, turtles, and lizards.

Symptoms include:

• Fever
• Diarrhea
• Abdominal cramps
• Headache
• Possible nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite

Symptoms usually last 4-7 days. Your health care provider diagnoses the infection with a stool test. Most people get better without treatment. Infection can be more serious in older adults, infants, and people with chronic health problems. If Salmonella gets into the bloodstream, it can be serious. The usual treatment is antibiotics.

Typhoid fever, a more serious disease caused by Salmonella, is not common in the United States. It frequently occurs in developing countries.

NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Start Here

• Salmonella Infection (Salmonellosis) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Salmonella Questions and Answers (Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Bacteria Culture Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Stool Tests (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Enjoying Homemade Ice Cream without the Risk of Salmonella Infection (Food and Drug Administration)
• Preventing Salmonella Infection (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Shell Eggs from Farm to Table (Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service)
• Typhoid Vaccine: What You Need to Know (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - PDF Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

• Salmonella Infection -- Diagnosis and Treatment (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Related Issues

• Backyard Poultry (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Reptiles and Amphibians (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Safe Handling of Pet Food and Pet Treats (American Veterinary Medical Association)

Specifics

• Typhoid and Paratyphoid Fever (Information for International Travel) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Salmonella Infections (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Typhoid Fever (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Bimodal expression of Type 3 Secretion System 2 enables cooperative virulence...
• Article: Genomic characterisation of multidrug-resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Kentucky ST198 isolates from...
• Article: Incidence and antimicrobial resistance of non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica in stool samples...
• Salmonella Infections -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish
• FoodSafety.gov (Department of Health and Human Services)
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Children

• Collecting a Stool Sample for Testing (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Salmonella Infections (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Women

• Food Poisoning during Pregnancy (March of Dimes Foundation)

Patient Handouts

• Salmonella enterocolitis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Typhoid fever (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Typhoid Vaccine: What You Need to Know (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - PDF Also in Spanish