Pancreatic Cancer

Salmonellosis is an infection caused by Salmonella bacteria. Salmonella infections are increasing in the United States. The disease causes acute intestinal distress with sudden onset of headache, fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, and sometimes vomiting.

These symptoms, along with loss of appetite, can last for several days. Dehydration (extreme loss of body water), especially among infants, can be severe. Salmonella is an invasive organism that can escape from the intestine and be spread by the blood to other organs. It can become a chronic infection in some people, who may have no symptoms yet can spread the disease to others. While most people recover successfully from salmonellosis, a few will experience long-term symptoms such as arthritis. Salmonellosis can be a very serious or even deadly infection in those who are very young, elderly, or have weakened immune systems.

Many types of Salmonella cause disease in both animals and people. While the prevalence of different types of Salmonella species vary from country to country, in the United States Salmonella typhimurium and Salmonella enteritidis are the two most commonly reported. An antibiotic-resistant strain of Salmonella typhimurium, called Definitive Type 104 (DT104), first emerged in the United Kingdom in 1984 and was recently detected in the United States. Now it is the second most prevalent strain (after enteritidis) of Salmonella found in humans. This strain poses a major new threat because it is resistant to several antibiotics normally used to treat people with Salmonella infections including ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, sulfonamides, and tetracycline.

Salmonellosis occurs worldwide, but it is most often reported in North America and Europe. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1.4 million people in the United States are infected each year with Salmonella. Only a small proportion of infected people are tested and diagnosed, with as few as 2 percent of cases reported to CDC. Salmonellosis may occur in small, localized outbreaks in the general population or in large outbreaks in hospitals, restaurants, or institutions for children or the elderly.

To avoid Salmonella infections:

Don't drink unpasteurized milk.

Don't eat undercooked poultry and poultry products