Salmonella Entering the Intestinal Tract

Salmonella Experiment in Space

Salmonellas Reproduction in Space

Salmonella sent to space have revealed secrets about the disease-causing bacteria that could help treat humans with food poisoning.

Scientists sent Salmonella bacteriato the International Space Station aboard two space shuttle missions in September 2006 and March 2008. The researchers found that when the bacteria were cultured in the microgravity environment of orbit, they became more virulentthan those on Earth. The findings showed that the conditions in which the bacteria grows affect how dangerous it will become.

"This research opens up new areas for investigations that may improve food treatment, develop new therapies and vaccines to combat food poisoning in humans here on Earth, and protect astronauts on orbit from infectious disease," said Julie Robinson, program scientist for the International Space Station at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

About Salmonella

History

The genus Salmonella was ultimately named after Daniel Elmer Salmon, an American veterinary pathologist. While Theobald Smith was the actual discoverer of the type bacterium(Salmonella enterica var. Choleraesuis) in 1885, Dr. Salmon was the administrator of the USDA research program, and thus the organism was named after him by Smith. Smith and Salmon had been searching for the cause of common hog cholera and proposed this organism as the causal agent. Later research, however, would show that this organism (now known as Salmonella enterica) rarely causes enteric symptoms in pigs, and was thus not the agent they were seeking (which was eventually shown to be a virus). However, related bacteria in the genus Salmonella were eventually shown to cause other important infectious diseases. The genus Salmonella was finally formally adopted in 1900 by J. Lignières for the many species of Salmonella, after Smith's first type-strain Salmonella cholerae sues.

Treatments and drugs

Medications
Because salmonella infection can be dehydrating, replacement of fluids and electrolytes is the focus of treatment. Severe cases may require hospitalization and fluids delivered directly into a vein (intravenous). In addition, your doctor may recommend:

• Anti-diarrheals. Medications like loperamide (Imodium) can help relieve cramping, but they may also prolong the diarrhea associated with salmonella infection.
• Antibiotics. If your doctor suspects that salmonella bacteria have entered your bloodstream, or if you have a severe case or a compromised immune system, he or she may prescribe antibiotics to kill the bacteria. Antibiotics are not of benefit in uncomplicated cases. In fact, antibiotics may prolong the period in which you carry the bacteria and can infect others, and they can increase your risk of relapse.

Genetics

Serovar Typhimurium has considerable diversity and may be very old. The majority of the isolates belong to a single clonal complex. Isolates are divided into phage types, but some phage types do not have a single origin as determined using mutational changes. Phage type DT104 is heterogeneous and represented in multiple sequence types, with its multidrug-resistant variant being the most successful and causing epidemics in many parts of the planet.

Serovar Typhi is relatively young compared to Typhimurium, and probably originated approximately 30,000-50,000 years ago.