Salmonellosis

Salmonellosis is a disease that affects children because of the salmonella bacteria. It is a foodborne illness and usually occurs due to consumption of contaminated food (meat, poultry, eggs and milk) or water. It affects your child’s intestines and causes vomiting and diarrhoea. It gets cleared up from the intestines in seven to ten days and by then the symptoms disappear as well. 

Prevention of salmonella is important. You can prevent it by not serving raw milk or eggs, and by not keeping reptiles or birds as pets if you have a very small child in your house. 

Inculcating the habit of hand washing is very important in children. This can prevent many bacterial infections from happening. Not everyone who digests salmonella will get sick; only infants, toddlers and children are mostly affected by it severely. 

There are many different types of salmonella virus. The one most commonly affecting children are the ones contracted from birds, cows, reptiles and pigs (in the USA).

If fruits are not washed properly, they may cause salmonella. Other causes of salmonella can be when food comes in contact with faeces of animals (for e.g. eggs or beef not being cooked properly).​