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• Diagnosis and Tests
• Prevention and Risk Factors

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Summary

Salmonella is the name of a group of bacteria. In the United States, it is a common cause of foodborne illness. Salmonella occurs in raw poultry, eggs, beef, and sometimes on unwashed fruit and vegetables. You also can get infected after handling pets, especially reptiles like snakes, turtles, and lizards.

Symptoms include:

• Fever
• Diarrhea
• Abdominal cramps
• Headache
• Possible nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite

Symptoms usually last 4-7 days. Your health care provider diagnoses the infection with a stool test. Most people get better without treatment. Infection can be more serious in older adults, infants, and people with chronic health problems. If Salmonella gets into the bloodstream, it can be serious. The usual treatment is antibiotics.

Typhoid fever, a more serious disease caused by Salmonella, is not common in the United States. It frequently occurs in developing countries.

NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Start Here

• Salmonella (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Salmonella Questions and Answers (Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Bacteria Culture Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Stool Tests (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Enjoying Homemade Ice Cream without the Risk of Salmonella Infection (Food and Drug Administration)
• Salmonella Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Shell Eggs from Farm to Table (Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service)
• Typhoid Vaccine (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - PDF Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Backyard Poultry (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Reptiles and Amphibians (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Salmonella: Dry Pet Foods and Pet Treats (FAQ) (American Veterinary Medical Association)

Specifics

• Travelers' Health: Typhoid and Paratyphoid Fever (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Statistics and Research

• Novel Structure and Function of Typhoid Toxin (National Institutes of Health)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Salmonella Infections (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Typhoid Fever (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Comparative genomic analysis provides new insights into non-typhoidal Salmonella population structure...
• Article: Colonization resistance: the role of gut microbiota in preventing Salmonella invasion...
• Article: Pyroptosis regulation by Salmonella effectors.
• Salmonella Infections -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish
• FoodSafety.gov (Department of Health and Human Services)
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Children

• Collecting a Stool Sample for Testing (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Salmonella Infections (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Women

• Food Poisoning during Pregnancy (March of Dimes Foundation)

Patient Handouts

• Salmonella enterocolitis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Typhoid fever (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Typhoid Vaccine (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - PDF Also in Spanish