Intestinal infections are dangerous for children and adults. Most of them occur in the form of an epidemic, that is, a whole group of people fall ill at once. Doctors pay special attention to salmonellosis among the general population. What is this infection and why is there so much talk about it?
What is salmonellosis
The disease is caused by bacteria from the genus Salmonella. They are widely distributed in nature, living in water, soil and in the gastrointestinal tract of many animals. In total there are many varieties, more than 2200 of them are capable of causing an infectious disease in humans. Once in the intestines in large quantities, salmonella are introduced into the bloodstream and spread throughout the body.
Salmonella is fairly stable in the environment. For a long time, bacteria persist in frozen food, contaminated water and soil. In meat and milk, they reproduce perfectly, while the quality of the products does not deteriorate at all in appearance. Microbes are destroyed at a temperature of + 70 ° C for 5-10minutes. So boiling food well protects against infection. Eggs must be boiled for 4 minutes. But in fried eggs, Salmonella can retain their pathogenicity. Also, s alting and smoking will not affect them.
How the disease progresses
Depending on the type of bacteria and the characteristics of the human body, several forms of the disease may manifest.
- Intestinal form with varying degrees of damage to the stomach, small and large intestines.
- The generalized form is characterized by a severe course of the disease and the spread of the pathogen throughout the body. It is subdivided into typhoid, septic, and meningeal.
- The erased form and bacterial excretion may be asymptomatic, but in this case the person is a carrier of Salmonella and a source of their release into the external environment.
The disease is severe in children under one year old and the elderly, weakened by chronic ailments. After recovery, a person develops unstable immunity to salmonellosis. What does this mean? As a rule, the organism acquires resistance to re-infection within one year. The person can then become infected again and fall ill.
Transmission routes
Salmonellosis - what is it, intestinal or general infection? The behavior of a microbe in the body largely depends on the mode of infection.
- Food. The most common route of transmission, often causing outbreaks due to violations of sanitary and hygienic rules in placesCatering. Salmonellosis in adults and children develops with the use of animal products contaminated with salmonella in significant quantities: meat, eggs and egg products, milk and dairy products, fish. Bacteria get into products either as a result of contamination with the contents of the intestines at meat processing plants, or during the slaughter of sick and weakened animals.
- The contact-household route of infection matters in outbreaks of infection in hospitals. When a specific microflora is isolated in these cases, a diagnosis of salmonellosis is made. Symptoms in children treated in hospitals occur massively, more often in the summer.
- Salmonella can be transmitted by airborne dust in megacities, but this method of infection is not of great importance in the occurrence of mass diseases.
Also, the source of infection can be a person - a carrier of the infection in contact with food. The second significant way for salmonella to enter the human body is with drinking water from contaminated water bodies or as a result of emergencies in the water supply system.
Symptoms of Salmonellosis
Once in the intestines, Salmonella begin to multiply actively and destroy the mucous membrane, causing inflammation. In addition, bacteria release a number of toxins. They play a significant role in the pathogenesis of a disease such as salmonellosis. Symptoms and treatment will vary slightly depending on the form of the infection.
- The incubation period is on average12 to 24 hours, but can be 6 to 72 hours.
- Usually the disease is acute. Body temperature rises to 39 ° C, nausea, headache, weakness, abdominal cramps occur.
- Loose stools 4 to 9 times a day, the nature of the stools is watery, frothy, with an unpleasant odor. On day 2-3, an admixture of mucus appears, sometimes with blood.
- In the case of the development of the gastrointestinal form of the disease, the duration of the course of salmonellosis is from 2 to 10 days.
- In severe cases, dehydration and toxic shock caused by salmonellosis may develop. Symptoms in young children with septic form indicate damage to the meninges.
- In the typhoid form, there may be no symptoms of intestinal damage. Characterized by high temperature up to + 40 °C, pale skin, rash on the abdomen and trunk.
- The disease can be complicated by peritonitis, toxic expansion of the intestine, appendicitis, acute heart and kidney failure, the development of purulent foci in organs and tissues. For this reason, meningitis, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, arthritis, abscesses of the internal organs, pneumonia and urinary tract infections can develop.
Diagnosis
To make a diagnosis, they do an analysis for salmonellosis. For bacteriological culture, blood, feces, urine, bile, pus from the lesion, and vomit are taken. Products suspected of being the source of infection are also being investigated.
Serological tests are used to detect antibodies to Salmonella in blood serum.
Treatment of disease
Treatment of salmonellosis requires hospitalization in case of severe damage to the organs of the gastrointestinal tract and the course of the disease in a generalized form. In other cases, patients are treated at home. The diagnosis of salmonellosis must first be confirmed by a laboratory. Symptoms and treatment of the disease are interrelated.
- Prescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics until the results of subtitration (determination of the sensitivity of the pathogen to antibacterial drugs) are obtained, then the treatment is adjusted if necessary. The analysis period is 5 days. The difficulty lies in the fact that today there are many varieties of Salmonella that are resistant to almost all drugs.
- Wash the stomach and intestines.
- Replenish fluid loss by injecting orally or intravenously with water-s alt solutions.
- Detoxify the body.
- Painkillers and antispasmodics (No-shpa drug or its analogues).
- To maintain digestion, enzymes are prescribed: Festal, Mezim Forte, etc.
- During the period of illness and after it is necessary to strictly adhere to a sparing diet.
Consequences of infection for the body
If a person has had salmonellosis, what does this mean for overall he alth? The length of stay in the hospital is from 14 to 30 days. After recovery, a laboratory analysis is carried out forisolation of the pathogen, with a double negative result, the patient is recognized as free from the carriage of the infection. Within 2-4 weeks after salmonellosis, it is necessary to follow a diet and take probiotics - drugs that restore the intestinal microflora.
In order to prevent the disease, it is necessary to observe the hygiene of food preparation, follow the rules and conditions for storing food, boil meat well, and do not buy food in suspicious places. If there are signs of salmonellosis, a timely visit to a doctor, a correct diagnosis and competent treatment make the outcome of the disease favorable, and the damage to he alth is minimal.
