Salmonella is a bacterium that can be contracted from several different areas. The area that will be focused on in this paper is about how Salmonella can be contracted from contaminated water. CDC estimates that approximately 1.2 million illnesses and around 450 deaths occur due to Salmonella in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, [CDC] 2015). People can become contaminated with Salmonella by drinking water that contains small amounts of animal feces (CDC, 2015). It can also happen when people who are preparing food do not wash their hands after coming in contact with contaminated food, and then they go around touching other food items and such. This is why it is so important to spread knowledge about Salmonella to people in order for people to practice better hygiene and to be more aware of how Salmonella can contaminate their surroundings.
Salmonella Background
The Salmonella bacterium was named after the scientist Dr. Daniel Salmon (“Salmonella information,” n.d.) The way Salmonella causes disease is that after it is contaminated a person or an animal, it passes through the stomach into the intestine (“Salmonella information,” n.d.) Once it has gained access to our insides, it moves towards the liver or spleen (“Salmonella information,” n.d.). Salmonella prevents the human immune system from doing its job appropriately. To avoid becoming contaminated with Salmonella, people to need to be sure that everything they consume is thoroughly cooked, as well as drinking water that has been purified.
Salmonella affects the bowels of the person that is contaminated with this bacterium. People usually develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection (CDC, 2015). Most people recover without treatment because the sickness only lasts about 4 days to a week (CDC, 2015). In some situations when a person’s diarrhea becomes too severe, they may need to be hospitalized (CDC, 2015). Older people and infants may have a more severe reaction to Salmonella if contaminated because their immune systems are weaker and have a more difficult time fighting off the bacteria (CDC, 2015). It is best to inform the community about this fact in order to take extra precautions to avoid Salmonella contamination of infants and older people.
Recent Salmonella Outbreaks
In recent years Salmonella outbreaks have been reported frequently in South-East Asia (Saikia, L., Sharma, A., Nath, R., Choudhury, G., & Borah, A. K., 2015). The source of the outbreak found here was suspected to be from drinking water contaminated with dead livestock and poor environmental sanitation (Saikia, L., Sharma, A., Nath, R., Choudhury, G., & Borah, A. K., 2015). Water samples were collected from various sources of drinking water, and the samples all showed high levels of fecal contamination (Saikia, L., Sharma, A., Nath, R., Choudhury, G., & Borah, A. K., 2015). The patients that were infected with this were treated with oflaxacin intravenously (Saikia, L., Sharma, A., Nath, R., Choudhury, G., & Borah, A. K., 2015). No deaths occurred; the total number of estimated primary cases were 72 (Saikia, L., Sharma, A., Nath, R., Choudhury, G., & Borah, A. K., 2015). Things that were taught to the people who lived here were to boil their water before drinking it and to clean their drains regularly (Saikia, L., Sharma, A., Nath, R., Choudhury, G., & Borah, A. K., 2015). This article stressed that in order to prevent future outbreaks, it is necessary to improve their surveillance system with collaboration between epidemiologists, clinicians, microbiologists, and veterinarians for better outcomes in the future (Saikia, L., Sharma, A., Nath, R., Choudhury, G., & Borah, A. K., 2015).
Another recent outbreak that has occurred was in Zimbabwe during October 2011 through May 2012 (“Notes from the field: salmonella typhi infections associated with contaminated water – Zimbabwe,” 2012). A total of 4,185 cases were identified here during this time. Suspected people who were contaminated had symptoms such as malaise, headache, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation, and their symptoms all lasted for 3 days or more (“Notes from the field: salmonella typhi infections associated with contaminated water – Zimbabwe,” 2012). The investigative team tested water samples from 6 different boreholes and 7 different wells, and were all found to be contaminated with Salmonella (“Notes from the field: salmonella typhi infections associated with contaminated water – Zimbabwe,” 2012). Recommendations for this community included promoting household chlorination of water, no matter what source it came from, because they were told the water they receive should never be relied on to have been previously purified (“Notes from the field: salmonella typhi infections associated with contaminated water – Zimbabwe,” 2012). Public health partners distributed a 3-month supply of water-purification tablets to all households that were considered high risk (“Notes from the field: salmonella typhi infections associated with contaminated water – Zimbabwe,” 2012). An estimated 884 million people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water, and around 2.5 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation (“Notes from the field: salmonella typhi infections associated with contaminated water – Zimbabwe,” 2012). The incidence of Salmonella is highest in developing countries, such as Africa.
Salmonella is one of the leading bacterial infections that is a cause of morbidity and mortality in lower and middle-income countries (MacFadden, D. R., Bogoch, I. I., & Andrews, J. R., 2016). In the United States, the CDC monitors the frequency of Salmonella infections in the country and assists the local and state health departments in investigating outbreaks and planning control measures for these outbreaks (CDC, 2015). The US Environmental Protection Agency regulates and monitors the safety of drinking water supplies (CDC, 2015). Without these programs in the US, the US population would most likely have many more cases of Salmonella like there are in other parts of the world. Surveillance systems like the ones previously mentioned should be stressed in all populations of the world in order to prevent future outbreaks of Salmonella. Populations need to all work together to improve water sanitation systems in order to prevent further outbreaks. That is the first step in improving the health of people around the world.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Salmonella can be contracted from a few different routes, but contaminated water is a main source of Salmonella. Populations need to be aware of the signs and symptoms of Salmonella in order to recognize if they are contaminated or not, as this will help to prevent them from contaminating other humans. Salmonella is more common in other parts of the world than it is in the US, but the US population stills needs to be aware of Salmonella, and how to avoid becoming contaminated with Salmonella. When several groups of people come together and bring their own knowledge and expertise into preventing further contamination, the problem of Salmonella can become greatly reduced. That is why it is so important to educate others around the world.