How is Salmonella transmitted to humans?
Salmonellosis is spread to people by ingestion of Salmonella bacteria that contaminate food. Salmonella is worldwide and can contaminate almost any food type, but recent outbreaks of the disease involve raw eggs, raw meat (ground beef and other poorly cooked meats), egg products, fresh vegetables, cereal, pistachio nuts, and contaminated water. Contamination can come from animal or human feces that contact the food during its processing or harvesting. New data about types of food contamination (food poisoning by Salmonella spp) is available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the FDA. See, for example, the second last Web citation below. Potential direct sources of Salmonella are pets such as turtles, dogs, cats, most farm animals, and humans that are infected or are carriers of the organisms. Although typhoid and paratyphoid fevers can be transmitted by the same methods as salmonellosis listed above, the most frequent manner of transmission is by the fece
