Taking a Look at Bacterial Gastroenteritis

In the case of the Salmonella gastroenteritis outbreak after a reception, the origin of the illness comes down to the potato salad served at this event, however, the investigators are not certain of the mechanism of contamination. Whether the service worker (infected) might have unknowingly contaminated the food item or whether the food service worker also was infected through the same source as the case-patients remains unclear.2 Because the mechanism is unclear, it’s hard to identify if any of the ingredients in the potato salad were the culprit. In many cases, however, investigators are able to identify the mechanism for contamination.

Salmonella is a bacterial disease that occurs in the intestines, the signs and symptoms can be; fever, or other illnesses such as diarrhea and abdominal cramps. People typically get salmonella from contaminated foods, which seems to occur frequently from poultry and eggs (Nordqvist, 2016). This is just a basic look at salmonella though, next we need to look at the epidemiologic triad (host, agent, and environment) and see how each plays a role in a salmonella outbreak.

Norovirus and Salmonella are the two most common pathogens, resulting in the most hospitalizations and deaths. Norovirus is a pathogen that infects the stomach and intestines by causing inflammation. Symptoms of norovirus include; nausea/vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain leading to dehydration causing one to urinate more frequently and feel dizzy while standing up. In order to avoid contracting the Norovirus, the CDC recommends thoroughly washing fruits, vegetables and cooking seafood to appropriate temperatures, which can survive up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/preventing-infection.html). Salmonella affects the gastrointestinal tract when bacteria is swallowed, mainly coming from raw food products; eggs,

The infectious agent (pathogen) that causes salmonella is called salmonella enteriditis. The bacteria is larger than a virus; but, is visible to the eye with the microscope. It is rod-shaped, gram negative, non-motile bacteria that does not form spores. Interestingly enough it communicates to its fellow bacteria via AHL. It infects the cell, multiplies within it; then, bursts the cell. Special effector protein factors are required for salmonella intestinal invasion and the induction of fluid secretion and for inflammatory responses. There are about six names species names of it, salmonella

A wide variety of foods including meats, milk, vegetables, and fish have been associated with the diarrheal type food poisoning. The vomiting-type outbreaks have generally been associated with rice products; however, other starchy foods such as potato, pasta and cheese products have also been implicated. Food mixtures such as sauces, puddings, soups, casseroles, pastries, and salads have frequently been incriminated in food poisoning outbreaks.

It is Gram positive and has a bacillary morphology. Salmonella causes the gastrointestinal infection called Salmonellosis and has common variations, or serotypes, such as Enteritidis (found mostly in poultry, Typhi and Typhimurium (http://www.salmonella.org/info.html). Since the Salmonella bacteria is found in the gastrointestinal tract of animals and humans, it is easily spread by eating fecal contaminated food and water, and by food handlers infected with the bacteria. Salmonella can also be found in the soil, along with other pathogenic bacteria, making fruits and vegetables that have not been effectively cleaned, a good source of contamination. S. Typhi, the variation that only lives in humans, can be transmitted from one person to another by consuming food or water that has been handled by an infected person, or if contaminated water is used for drinking. Irrigating and washing foods with contaminated water are also other ways such as fresh fruits and vegetables.

Every year millions of people of all ages suffer from food poising due to something they ate was wrong. Sufferers experience a series of vomiting associated with diarrhoea. It is very hard to determine the cause of such attacks because eaten food doses not remains; only when many people fall ill by eating the same food can possibly say that the food was source of the outbreak. Food posing is defined as an illness caused by various bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses or chemicals. When food or water is in contact with these pathogens it becomes poisoned. The diseases that are caused by these organisms arise as a result of two possible ways ,they might be very infections in which, they access to the human body and multiplies in it or they

Salmonella is a bacterial disease of the intestinal tract. Salmonella is a group of bacteria. It causes typhoid fever (an infectious bacterial fever with an eruption of red spots on the chest and abdomen and severe intestinal irritation), food poisoning (an illness caused by bacteria or other toxins in food, typically with vomiting and diarrhea), gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines, typically resulting from bacterial toxins or viral infection and causing vomiting and diarrhea), and a lot of other illnesses. The symptoms of salmonellosis develop 12 to 72 hours after infection and usually last 4 to 7 days. Most people recover without treatment. The diarrhea and dehydration might be so severe that it is necessary to go

Salmonellosis, which is an infection caused by Salmonella, can also spread by water or direct contact. For some hosts, 15-20 cells can be an infective dose. Once digested, the bacteria travel through the stomach to the intestine. The bacteria penetrate the intestinal wall gaining access to the liver and spleen. It is at this point gastrointestinal illness Salmonellosis can begin. (E. J. McGhie, L.C. Brawn, P.J. Hume, D. Humphreys, V. Koronoakis,

Salmonella enterica (S. enterica) is a harmful gram-negative bacterium, which like all other bacteria grows in colonies. Bacteria can be grouped as cocci, bacillus or spirillum. Salmonella bacteria are rod shaped (bacillus) which can function both with and without oxygen. Each single bacterium has DNA, a cytoplasm, cell membrane to control substances entering and leaving the cell and a cell wall to hold the structure together. In particular Salmonella has all of the above as well as flagella to help with movement and fimbriae which aids the bacterium to adhere to their environment such as the small intestine. Salmonella can be found in animals or humans and is transferred through ingestion of contaminated foods. Salmonella enterica are very tiny, and cannot be seen by the human eye, on a pin head alone there are 100,000 bacteria. Humans can become sick from ingesting as few as 20 bacteria. Salmonella enterica bacteria are approximately 4 micrometres long and 1 micrometre in diameter (A micrometre is one thousand times smaller than a millimetre). These tiny organisms can travel into the human through foods, drinks, pens, cigarettes etc. virtually anything that touches the mouth.

With all this talk of grilling outdoors, picnics in parks, road trips and other reasons for food to be served in less-than-sterile conditions, we’d be remiss not to at least briefly mention food poisoning. If you’ve ever had it, and you probably have once in your life, your skin just crawled. Sorry.

Rotavirus represents the leading cause of severe childhood gastroenteritis. Every year rotavirus is thought to be responsible for approximately 25 million clinic visits, two million hospital admissions, and more than 800 thousand deaths in children under the age of five globally. Although this disease has a worldwide distribution, most deaths occur in the developing countries.

People assume that as a chef, I must have an easy job. They may assume that all I’m responsible for is cooking recipes that I’ve memorized by heart from cooking the dish over and over again. Although, that is one of the easiest parts, I also have the responsibility of protecting and assuring that the food is completely safe to serve. Working in the food industry, there’s many ways that an individual may come in contact with certain bacteria and disease. One of the common bacteria that I will be discussing today on an in-depth scientific level is a foodborne pathogen called salmonellosis or more commonly known as salmonella (1). When people hear about the bacteria salmonella, they may assume that this is primarily located in salmon, however

Common illnesses that can occur are salmonella and trichinosis poisoning resulting from improper handling of chicken, eggs or pork (Jardin, 2009, para.2). Diseases such as: campylobacteriosis, cholera, and listeriosis also make the list of illnesses (Jardin, 2009, para.1). These diseases are the versions of food poisoning, which can be life-threatening. According to the World of Health article published in 2007,

Generalized systemic enteric fever, headache, malaise, anorexia, enlarged spleen, and constipation followed by more severe abdominal symptoms; rose spots on trunk in 25% of Caucasian patients; complications include ulceration of Peyer's patches in ileum, can produce hemorrhage or perforation; Common enterocolitis may result without enteric fever; characterized by headache, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration may result; case fatality of 16% reduced to 1% with antibiotic therapy; mild and atypical infections occur ("Salmonella typhi | MSDSonline", 2017)