subject: Intestinal Infections: All Roads Lead To The Hospital Bed [print this page] Scientists have provided the world's first evidence that the most dangerous infectious diseases such as HIV, severe acute respiratory syndrome, West Nile virus and Ebola virus are in a state of hyperactivity. Also, the researchers found that in 80-ies of the previous century a more dangerous disease than in other decades.
As it was turned out, swimmers, and those who uses private wells and sewage treatment systems, more than any other risks of contracting a bacterial intestinal infection, which is not typical for epidemic outbreaks. It is known that to the mass food poisoning lead just 10% of pathogens. Moreover, the methods of their control - such as the recent outbreak of salmonellosis in the United States, in which affected more than 500 people from 43 states in the country who had eaten peanut butter - may not be fully applicable to other types of infections.
Children and adolescents are most susceptible to different types of intestinal diseases. During the two-year study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, were interviewed 296 patients aged less than 19 years who had undergone intestinal infection between 2003 and 2005. Results were compared with 580 uninfected control surveys of patients. With the help of laboratory tests they have been identified Campylobacter (in the 151 case), Salmonella (86 cases), Escherichia coli (39 cases) and Shigella (20 cases).
Analysis of data showed that the degree of risk and volume of non-food route of infection is comparable with the food. In particular, the relationship of infections (with all four types of infection) with swimming and other forms of recreation, use of well water (salmonella) and use of private wastewater treatment systems (Salmonella and E. coli) has been surprisingly strong. The frequency of hand washing and care of the sick had no effect on the risk of infection.
Regarding food, the most common means of infection with Campylobacter were: 1) lack of cleaning kitchen surfaces after handling raw meat, 2) visit fast food restaurants. Coliform bacterium associated with self-service restaurant. The best position advocates vegetarian cuisine: the consumption of vegetables, in particular clean, lowered the risk of infection with Salmonella, although this observation did not apply hermetically packaged vegetables.
The researchers found no link between the outbreaks of salmonellosis and consumption of chicken meat or eggs, possibly because of the limited prevalence of certain serotypes of Salmonella in the study. As a result, scientists have concluded that staying in the contaminated waters (both natural and synthetic), and laxity in cooking - the main pathways of bacterial intestinal infections.
