A common bacterial infection affecting the intestinal tract-Salmonella infection - Diagnosis & treatment - Mayo Clinic (2024)

FAQs

What is the most common cause of salmonella infections? ›

Salmonella infection is usually caused by eating raw or undercooked meat, poultry, and eggs or egg products or by drinking unpasteurized milk. The incubation period — the time between exposure and illness — can be 6 hours to 6 days. Often, people who have salmonella infection think they have the stomach flu.

Diagnosing Salmonella infection requires testing a specimen (sample), such as stool (poop) or blood. Testing can help guide treatment decisions. Infection is diagnosed when a laboratory test detects Salmonella bacteria in stool, body tissue, or fluids.

How is infection treated? Most people recover from Salmonella infection within four to seven days without antibiotics. People who are sick with a Salmonella infection should drink extra fluids as long as diarrhea lasts.

If you have a salmonella infection, your diarrhea typically will have a strong odor. Sometimes you may also have blood in the stool. The illness often lasts for just a few days. Children younger than 3 months may have the infection for a longer period of time.

Washington, D.C.—Tomato juice can kill Salmonella Typhi and other bacteria that can harm people's digestive and urinary tract health, according to research published this week in Microbiology Spectrum, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Salmonella usually goes away on its own, though you may have to go through a few days of symptoms first. Make sure to drink plenty of fluids so you don't get dehydrated.

Can alcohol kill all types of germs or only some types? At the required concentrations — between 60 and 90 percent — alcohol can kill a broad range of germs, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. For example, alcohol can eliminate common bacteria, such as E. coli, salmonella, and Staphylococcus aureus.

Drinking extra water or other fluids can help a sick person, but not by flushing the germs from the bloodstream, as many people have been led to believe. Fluids are recommended to keep a person hydrated when sick, said Dr.

In otherwise healthy people, symptoms should go away in 2 to 5 days, but they may last for 1 to 2 weeks. People who have been treated for Salmonella may continue to shed the bacteria in their stool for months to a year after the infection.

Parasites and bacteria: Certain pathogens can cause poop to turn green, such as the Salmonella bacterium, the water-based parasite Giardia, and norovirus. They can cause the guts to move food more quickly, affecting stool color.

Which is worse E. coli or salmonella? ›

They are similar bacteria, salmonella evolved from E. coli about a million years ago, which explains their same means of transmission and common symptoms. But, they are different as E. coli is much more heterogeneous compared to salmonella, and therefore has more dangerous effects.

If you're infected with salmonella, the bowel wants to eliminate the offending germs as quickly as possible. To accomplish that, muscle in the abdomen contract forcefully - and the result is cramps.

Contaminated food is the major mode of transmission for non-typhoidal salmonellae because salmonellosis is a zoonosis and has an enormous animal reservoir. The most common animal reservoirs are chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows; dozens of other domestic and wild animals also harbor these organisms.

Salmonella bacteria are widely distributed in domestic and wild animals. They are prevalent in food animals such as poultry, pigs, and cattle; and in pets, including cats, dogs, birds, and reptiles such as turtles.

Salmonella bacteria are most often found in: raw meat. undercooked poultry such as chicken or turkey. eggs.

The most common serotypes of Salmonella that cause human infection are Enteritidis, Typhimurium, Newport, and Javiana.