1. Food Portion Distortion Quiz: Test Your Diet IQ
2. Food Frauds That Wreck Your Diet Slideshow
3. Foods That Help or Harm Your Sleep Slideshow

Medical Author:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

View Full Profile

Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

View Full Profile

For all Salmonella diseases, the key to prevention is proper hygiene and enforcement of public health rules and regulations. Proper hygiene starts with hand washing with soap and water before eating and especially after handling any raw foods such as eggs, meat, or produce. Avoiding direct contact with carriers of Salmonella (for example, turtles, snakes, pigs, typhoid patients) reduces the chance of infection. Public-health practices such as chlorination of drinking water, enforcing restaurant cleanliness and employee hand washing, and not allowing human carriers of Salmonella to work in the food-handling industry further reduce the chance of Salmonella exposure. Perhaps the most famous failure of public health measures was in 1907 when a cook named Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary) was suspected of infecting hundreds of individuals with a S. typhi serovar.

The CDC issues recalls of items, usually processed foods or vegetables, that are found to be contaminated with S. spp or other infectious or poisonous agents. People that take heed of these warnings and the accompanying advice reduce their chance of infection. In the past several years, recalls and reports of S. spp contamination of ground turkey (reportedly a drug-resistant strain in 2011), eggs, parsley, dog food, and other items have been publically announced. Most recently, mangoes, cantaloupes, and Wawa Fruit Cups have been cited or recalled because of S. spp contamination. The source of cantaloupe contamination has been traced in August 2012, to Chamberlain Farms Produce; the company has suspended all melon shipments. The mangoes were imported from Mexico.

Currently, there is no vaccine available to prevent salmonellosis, and the CDC does not recommend the general population be vaccinated against S. typhi serovars. However, the CDC does recommend that individuals going to developing countries where typhoid fever is endemic (some regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America) be vaccinated with a typhoid vaccine. There are two types of vaccines currently available to individuals. Ty21a is an oral vaccine that requires four doses administered two weeks before travel, while ViCPS vaccine is injected once and requires only one dose administered one week before travel. The Ty21a immunization requires a booster every five years with the minimum vaccination age of 6 years, while ViCPS requires a booster every two years with a minimum vaccination age of 2 years. Work is in progress to develop additional vaccines for all Salmonella infections.

Must Read Articles Related to Salmonella

Abdominal Pain in Adults Abdominal pain in adults can range from a mild stomach ache to severe pain. Examples of causes of abdominal pain in adults include appendicitis, gallbladder dis...learn more >>

Abdominal Pain in Children Abdominal pain in children can range from trivial to life-threatening. Some possible causes of abdominal pain in children are: infections, food related (food al...learn more >>

Dehydration in Adults Dehydration occurs when the loss of body fluids (mostly water), exceeds the amount that is taken in. Causes of dehydration include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, di...learn more >>

See the Entire Salmonella Topic Guide »