Salmonella

Salmonella

The Salmonella is a type of bacterium of the bacillus origin, awed for its shaft-like nature. The Salmonella bacterium is an anaerobic organism meaning that it is able to thrive in oxygen deficient environments for its growth and respiratory bodily mechanisms. However, it has been noted that despite its anaerobic inclination, the Salmonella prefers an aerobic environment as it hastens its reproductive process. The bacterium, just like other types of bacteria, is a disease-causing organism once absorbed in a host body. The Salmonella multiplies through cell division that takes a period of forty minutes. The optimal temperature required for this growth phase is thirty-six degrees Celsius, making it very compatible with the human body that has a temperature revolving around 36.5 degrees Celsius. However, the bacterium is well able to thrive in places having a temperature range between six and forty-six degrees Celsius. The highest acidic pH that the Salmonella can withstand is 4.1 whereas the basic pH stands at 9.0 (Brands & Edward, 2005).

The bacterium requires many energy supplements for the division process, mainly acquired from glucose deposits that are produced within the human body. Salmonella exists in various types, thereby making some of their genuses have the ability to cause illnesses in animals. The Salmonella bacterium is a causative agent food borne maladies that are majorly transmitted through the intake of infected foods. Human transmission of the bacterium emanates from animal-related food items like eggs, meat and milk (Rhen, 2007). Once infected food is introduced within the human body, the disease takes at least twelve to seventy-two hours to manifest. The medical indicators for Salmonella infection include runny stomach and diarrhea, lower back pain, nausea, increased body temperature and vomiting. Interestingly, just like flu or cold, the Salmonella infection clears on its own without any form of medication in a period of not less than four to seven days.

With the high rate of Salmonella infections noted in a global scale, the media has been very active in affording the required information needed to create awareness on the bacterium. Print and electronic medium have been widely used for these purposes. The Salmonella.org webpage offers comprehensive information with regard to the bacterium. The home page contains the Latest Salmonella News section that offers the reader the scientific developments within the subject. The All about Salmonella section offers the structural data, organism type, the various diseases and sources of the bacterium, illness prevention and its effect on animals. The frequently asked questions (FAQ) section has also been incorporated within the website and other sources that may be useful for information acquisition (Salmonella.org, 2011). Other websites like the World Health Organization and individual blogs are also fashioned in similar manners that discuss what the organism is, its habitat, mode of infection, diseases attached to it and the preventive measures.

Other news sources may however deal with only the most recent scientific milestone achieved with regard to the Salmonella. For instance, the Yahoo! News webpage offers daily reports with regard to a topic, the latest being the restoration of an Iowa egg farm into the market after its produce had been linked to the spread of Salmonella. The Chicago Tribune has a whole web page containing date-paginated articles linked to the bacterium. Other news sites include the Discovery News, Centre for Food Safety (University of Georgia), Science News, Natural News, The Medical News, among others. With many news channels covering the news, it means that the Salmonella bacterium has offered renewed interest in both the populace and the medical experts attributed to its spread levels. Questions that may be used for a comprehensive discussion on the topic would be:

Define the Salmonella and conditions required for its habitat.
How does the Salmonella spread?
What are the accompanying symptoms for Salmonella infections?
What is the incubation period for the Salmonella?
What are the curative and preventive measures that can be taken against Salmonella infections?

References

Brands, D. A., & Edward, I. A. (2005). Salmonella. Dulles, VA: Infobase Publishing.

Rhen, M. (2007). Salmonella: molecular biology and pathogenesis. El Paso, TX: Horizon Scientific Press.

Salmonella.org. (2011). Latest Salmonella News. Retrieved from

http://www.about-salmonella.com/