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Signs of salmonellosis, treatment and prevention of salmonellosis.

The disease salmonellosis refers to a number of intestinal infections that are acute and have a severe course. Salmonellosis is caused by the bacterium Salmonella - an anaerobic bacterium that has a different antigenic structure, which formed the basis for the principle of assigning Salmonella to different groups - A, B, C, D, E. The number of open and described species of Salmonella is about 1600.

A source of salmonellosis infection can be food products prepared in violation of the heat treatment technology (unboiled or poorly boiled milk, kefir, cottage cheese, cheeses, poorly fried or smoked meat, fish, chickens, grilled chicken, poached eggs, soft-boiled eggs, fried eggs with not curdled yolk, water), violation of hygiene (not thoroughly washed hands) in contact with animals and poultry.

Salmonellosis has three degrees of severity of the course of the disease (mild, moderate, severe) and various clinical forms of the course (gastrointestinal, typhoid, septic, meningeal).

The incubation period can last from several hours (for example, 5 hours) to several days (about a week).

Signs of salmonellosis differ depending on which of the clinical forms develops:

With the gastrointestinal form, cutting pains appear in the intestines, accompanied by diarrhea, the stool is watery and has a greenish tint, similar to the color of swamp mud, the stool is frequent (up to ten to twelve times a day) throughout the acute period of the development of the disease. A high temperature rises (up to 40 o C), in children, convulsions are possible, vomiting appears, against the background of developing dehydration of the body, pressure decreases, dizziness or headache appears, signs of toxicosis. Palpation reveals soreness, bloating, bubbling in the abdomen, rumbling. Recovery occurs in seven to ten days.
In the case of a typhoid-like form, instead of recovery, symptoms resembling typhoid fever appear: fever, skin rash. Palpation reveals an increase in the volume of the liver and spleen. Recovery occurs slowly with a gradual fading away of painful symptoms after a few weeks.
The septic form develops in the case of the spread of salmonella by hematogenous and / or lymphogenous pathways in various areas of the body. This form of salmonellosis often accompanies immunodeficiency states or develops in newborns. The septic form is characterized by the presence of debilitating diarrhea, skin spotty rashes, hemorrhages are possible. The long course of this form of salmonellosis is often fatal.
The meningeal form of salmonellosis develops when the central nervous system is involved in infection. It is characterized by the development of intestinal disorders, as in the gastrointestinal form, which are joined by meningeal syndrome, convulsive syndrome. Children of different age groups are often exposed to meningeal salmonellosis.

Treatment of salmonellosis disease requires antibacterial therapy (penicillin derivatives, fluoroquinols), the use of salmonella bacteriophage, the use of antiemetic drugs, in a state of dehydration, the administration of isotonic solutions, the use of sorbents, eubiotics (lactobacilli, spore-forming bacteria), adherence to a sparing diet of the gastrointestinal tract.

Dairy products are excluded from the diet, products that cause increased gas production (legumes), supporting fermentation processes (raw fruits, vegetables, juices, preserves, alcoholic beverages, meat and fish broths), stimulating intestinal motility (cereals, vegetables with coarse fiber). The diet should include steamed or boiled foods. The diet is followed both during the period of illness and for 2-4 weeks after recovery.

Prevention of salmonellosis involves compliance with the rules of hygiene and cooking technology. It is necessary to wash your hands not only after contact with animals or poultry (wild or domestic), but also wash your hands after cutting meat and fish, wash eggs before breaking the shell.

The bacterium Salmonella dies at the boiling point within half an hour, which helps prevent disease if the rules for heat treatment of food and drinks are observed. Meat and fish must be fried (a thick layer of meat is heat-treated for 2 - 2.5 hours), boiled completely, kept for a time period of smoking or heat-treated on the grill, eggs must be boiled for 10 minutes (which is enough to curl the yolk, in which Salmonella settles), fry the eggs with the lid on the pan, which allows the yolk to be thermally processed.

Great care must be taken in the preparation of dishes where raw eggs are required as an ingredient and there is no subsequent heat treatment (baking, boiling, boiling, frying): self-prepared eggnog, ice cream, mayonnaise, cream, cakes without baking (like "Tiramisu").

In order to prevent the carriage of Salmonella bacteria, you can take the bacteriophage Intesti or the bacteriophage of Salmonella.