Samonella – and everything we need to know about it. Just the word Samonella – used to send shivers down my spine. “OH MY – SO AND SO has been recalled because of SALMONELLA!!!” But then after a while – it would seem there are almost more things causing Salmonella – than there are things that are not – so WHAT IS UP – with SAMONELLA lately?
WHAT IS – Salmonella?
Well – Salmonella is really just a bacteria that develops in some of our foods and makes people sick. It is a bacteria that causes one of the most common forms of food poisoning worldwide. WOW! And it was first discovered by an assistant of American Scientist Dr Daniel Elmer Salmon – and the assistant named the bacterial disease after the great Dr Salmon in his honor.
Now Dr Salmon wasn’t a medical doctor. He was actually a veterinary surgeon and spent most of his career studying animal diseases for the U.S. Dept of Agriculture.
Salmonella: How Common Is It? And What Are The Symptoms?
Well – the Center for Disease Control – estimates that Salmonella causes about 1.2 million illnesses – 23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths in the United States alone – each year. SO that’s not a good track record.
And the symptoms? Well most people that come down with Salmonella – experience diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps just 12 to 72 hours after exposure to it.
It last from about 4 to 7 days and most people recover without treatment- but it ‘can’ be so severe the patient must be hospitalized.
It patients where the infection spreads from the intestines to the blood stream – and then often on to other organs – it’s necessary for the patient to be hospitalized to monitor the seriousness of their individual case – because untreated – the more serious cases can result in death. Those hospitalized are treated immediately with strong antibiotics.
The elderly – infants or very young children or those with weak immune systems are much more likely to have the severe cases.
How Does Samonella Get Into Our Foods?
Well take for instance the Samonella outbreak of just recent weeks in Kellogg’s Honey Smacks.
As gross as it is to think about – Samonella usually develops in the intestines of animals and humans and is transmitted to our foods by even a little bit of fecal matter. So just a little bit of fecal matter on utensils in a big production kitchen – can wreck havoc with tons of food product. Sounds to me like there are a lot of people now days – not washing their hands properly. OH UGG!!!
And even Salmonella from eggs – how can that even happen?
It can get in the egg simply by the shell itself coming in contact with a little fecal matter – and then getting into the egg itself – possibly when the egg is cracked for use. OR it can get into the egg before the egg is even laid – because the hen had the Salmonella germ in her intestines and it developed into the egg.
It seems like just no time ago – Salmonella was just something you very rarely heard of – so to find it almost daily these days – in two or three or four things – that tells me – unsanitary conditions are getting way to common in places that produce – bag – and/or ship our food products …
And all we can do – is to do all we can do – to keep everything clean and sanitary in our own kitchens –