Millions of people worldwide are affected by Salmonella bacteria and thousands lose their lives because of infection caused by it. In fact, it doesn’t cause a single disease, but may cause a mix of various problems such as diarrhea, vomiting and fever. The mix is potent enough to cause hospitalization and in extreme cases, death.
Possible targets
Children are more susceptible to falling prey to infection from Salmonella as their immune systems are not as developed as that of the adults. It is also possible that elders and individuals undergoing any treatment may catch this disease as their immune systems get weak due to variety of reasons. Infection from it can occur in those individuals who come in contact with the refuse of the infected person. Further, those people who get in contact with the infected person can also carry this infection. This property has earned it a title “Traveler’s infection”.
Reasons of infection
Before we understand various forms of Salmonella, we must have a look at the various reasons and manner of development of this infection, so that we can understand the treatment better. The most prominent reason of this infection is consumption of infected meat of the infected animal such as chicken, beef or bacon. This is because, if the infected cow, pig or the bird is not cooked properly before eating, traces of this bacteria are left behind which can affect the individuals who eat such meat. Further, various products from the infected animal or poultry such as milk or eggs may contain this bacteria. In case traces of bacteria are left behind in them before their consumption, the bacteria can enter the body of the individual and cause infection. It can also be caused by various carriers such as rodents. Further, food products like fruits and vegetables can carry this disease.
Salmonella Treatment
Once the diagnosis of the infected person has been completed and infection from Salmonella has been established, Salmonella Treatment must begin immediately. In severe forms of infection, it is quite possible that the infected person should be taken to hospital for immediate treatment. Since different forms of this infection can spread due to contact, enough care must be taken to isolate the infected person. Afterwards, antibiotics treatment of the patient is started. A number of antibiotics are available in the market, while ciprofloxacin is popular among them.
It is important to note that before the treatment actually begins, the physician must check for the resistance of the particular variety of Salmonella to the medicine. This is because it has been found out that some varieties of Salmonella have developed resistance to the infection. In adults, the treatment is mainly with the help of flouroquinolones. These consist of a wide range of antibiotics. However, the flouroquinolones must be administered with a lot of care.
Use of flouroquinolones
This is because these have severe side effects including interference in the functioning of the heart, convulsions, various forms of rupture of tendons etc. Besides this, the flouroquinolones are known to be toxic and overdose of these can lead to high levels of toxicity in blood. The level of toxicity can be gauged from the fact that many flouroquinolones such as sparfloxacin had to be withdrawn from the market in the past.
Treatment of children
During the treatment above points need to be taken care of by the physician. Additional care must be employed in the treatment of children who might not be able to withstand the high levels of toxicity of these medicines. Cephalosporins need to be administered to them. Though these are lesser toxic than flouroquinolones, these tend to cause rashes, nausea and can cause disturbance in the electrolyte balance of the kids, if not administered with care.
It is also possible that the individual might have developed a resistance for these medicines and this possibility needs to be checked out in case the treatment is not effective. In some cases, the patient is given treatment for dehydration as well.
Prevention
The treatment of Salmonella infection can be tricky and quite difficult. In extreme cases the infection can also lead to death. Thus, it is very important that enough care must be taken to prevent this disease. Enough measures must be employed so as to prevent the outbreak of this disease due to contamination of water and food which is widespread in nations across Africa and certain parts of Asia.
We can see that the Salmonella infection can spread due to variety of reasons and the treatment is quite tricky. Thus, the salmonella treatment needs to be done with enough care and measures need to be put in place to stem its spread.
