Salmonella is a bacterium that causes salmonellosis, a common foodborne illness mostly leading to gastroenteritis with symptoms like diarrhea, stomach cramps, fever, nausea, and vomiting. Most healthy people recover within a few days to a week without severe complications. However, it can be dangerous and even life-threatening for vulnerable groups such as infants, young children, older adults, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems, causing severe dehydration, bloodstream infections (bacteremia), and more serious conditions like meningitis, septicemia, or reactive arthritis. Rarely, it can lead to unusual complications such as infected blood vessel aneurysms in people with preexisting artery disease. The risk of serious illness increases if the infection spreads beyond the intestines into other parts of the body.
How Salmonella Infection Happens
- Salmonella bacteria live in intestines of animals and humans and are shed through stool.
- People typically get infected by eating contaminated or undercooked food such as raw meat, poultry, eggs, unpasteurized milk, or products in contact with contaminated foods.
- It can also spread through contact with infected animals, their environments, unwashed hands, or contaminated surfaces.
Symptoms and Duration
- Symptoms usually start between 6 to 72 hours after exposure.
- Common symptoms include diarrhea (sometimes with blood), stomach cramps, fever, nausea, vomiting, chills, and headache.
- Symptoms generally last from a few days up to a week, though diarrhea may persist longer in some cases.
Who Is at Higher Risk?
- Children under 5 years and adults over 65 years.
- Pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems due to diseases or treatments.
- Those with preexisting conditions such as cancer or vascular problems.
Possible Complications
- Severe dehydration from diarrhea.
- Spread of infection to the bloodstream causing bacteremia, meningitis, urinary tract infection, endocarditis, or osteomyelitis.
- Reactive arthritis (Reiter's syndrome) post-infection.
- Rare but serious infections of arteries or aneurysms in susceptible individuals.
Salmonella infection is preventable with good hygiene, thorough cooking of food, and proper food handling practices.
This comprehensive view shows that while salmonella can be mild for most, it poses serious risks particularly to vulnerable populations and can lead to dangerous complications in some cases.
