While most people don't have complications of salmonella, you should be on the lookout for signs of more serious illness. Some complications of salmonella include dehydration, bacteremia, osteomyelitis and reactive arthritis.
Salmonella illness can be serious.
They include diarrhea that can be bloody, fever, and stomach cramps. Most people recover within 4 to 7 days without antibiotic treatment. But some people with severe diarrhea may need to be hospitalized or take antibiotics.
Mortality Rate: ~1% for non-typhoidal salmonellosis; goes up to 3.6% in hospital and nursing home settings.
CDC estimates Salmonella bacteria cause about 1.35 million infections, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths in the United States every year.
People with salmonellosis may experience mild or severe diarrhea (loose stool/poop), stomach cramps, fever, and occasionally vomiting. Bloodstream infections can occur and be quite serious, particularly in the very young or elderly. Some people infected experience no symptoms at all.
Most people with a Salmonella infection experience: Diarrhea (that can be bloody) Fever. Stomach cramps.
Most salmonella infections get better on their own with home remedies. That includes getting rest and drinking lots of fluids since vomiting and diarrhea can lead to dehydration. You may want to use over-the-counter pain medication for discomfort and fever.
Most healthy people recover within a few days to a week without specific treatment. In some cases, diarrhea can cause severe dehydration and requires prompt medical attention. Life-threatening complications also may develop if the infection spreads beyond the intestines.
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.
Symptoms of a salmonella infection may include diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection chills, headache, nausea, or vomiting. Treatment may not be necessary unless dehydration happens or the infection spreads to the blood stream.
Children under 5 years old are the most likely to get a Salmonella infection. Infants (children younger than 12 months) who are not breast fed are more likely to get a Salmonella infection. Infants, adults aged 65 and older, and people with a weakened immune system are the most likely to have severe infections.
Salmonella can cause persistent intestinal infection, gut microbiota imbalance and chronic inflammation, which further induces DNA damage resulting in chromosome instability or epigenetic modification.
Can you die from salmonella? Salmonella is rarely fatal, but if the bacteria enters your bloodstream, it can be life-threatening, especially for people with weakened immune systems, such as the elderly, the very young, and those with diseases like cancer and HIV/AIDS.
Because salmonella infection can cause dehydration, treatment focuses on replacing lost fluids and electrolytes — minerals that balance the amount of water in the body. If dehydration is severe, emergency room care or hospitalization may be needed so that fluids can be delivered directly into a vein (intravenous).
Salmonella infections are commonly treated with fluoroquinolones or third-generation cephalosporins, such as ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone.
The most important way to manage the symptoms of salmonella is to drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration. Fluids that help you stay hydrated include: Water. Sports drinks.
Most people recover without specific treatment. Antibiotics are typically used only to treat people with severe illness. Patients should drink extra fluids as long as diarrhea lasts. In some cases, diarrhea may be so severe that the person needs to be hospitalized.
Abdominal pain
To accomplish that, muscle in the abdomen contract forcefully - and the result is cramps. Dr. William A. Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt Medical School in Nashville, Tenn., says the cramps can be so severe that doctors sometimes suspect the patient might have appendicitis.
Salmonellosis is generally self-limited and usually does not require specific treatment. Persons with severe diarrhea might require rehydration, sometimes with intravenous fluids.
coli are both bacteria and they are fundamentally very similar. Salmonella actually evolved from E. coli, about 100 million years ago. E coli is much more heterogeneous; they are regular commensal gut organisms, which means they're part of the normal healthy gut flora of pretty much every mammalian species.
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.
Sleep and Stay Hydrated
Once you've started showing salmonella poisoning symptoms, there's not a lot you can do to speed the process. Your body will fight off the infection naturally, but you can help by staying hydrated and getting plenty of sleep.
Except after a meal, when the stomach is full of food, the pH of the normal human stomach can be very low, around pH 2, which will kill Salmonella and many other bacteria that cause enteric diseases.
Diagnostic and Public Health Testing. 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.