Salmonella: A Symptom Of Spending Problems

I think the national budget should be cut back a little on the military and put a little more on health because right now the discretionary spending for 2015 health is only at a %5.93 as for military it is at %53.71 Who knows, one day the pet turtle your kid has could give him salmonella. Small turtles may be cute but they are making people sick. That was the warning from U.S. federal health officials on Wednesday.Between January 2015 and April of this year there have been four separate multi-state outbreaks of salmonella associated with touching turtles smaller than four inches long.In all, 133 individuals in 26 states have become sick. Thirty-eight of those individuals were so ill they were hospitalized, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Numbers are expected to rise. cnn.com/…/05/19/health/salmonella-turtles

Something little has become something serious in the past year. Salmonella is commonly found in raw food products that come from animals, such as eggs, egg products, meat, meat products, unpasteurized milk, or other unpasteurized dairy products. Thorough cooking and processing effectively kills salmonella bacteria. But this new discovery was made that is was found to be coming from turtles as well. Some of the symptoms of salmonella are

Nausea
Vomiting
Abdominal cramps
Diarrhea
Fever
Chills
Headache
Blood in the stool

The agency is working with the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S Department of Agriculture(USDA) and other federal entities to investigate the outbreaks.

“Initial investigations have identified four turtle farms in Louisiana as potential sources of the turtles linked to these 2015 outbreaks. Pond water testing from the four farms resulted in the identification of additional non-outbreak Salmonella isolates,” the World Health Organization http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/19/health/salmonella-turtles/index.html

The animals often carry the bacteria on their skin and shell although they do not get sick themselves. Children, for example, like to put their hands in their mouth so they become infected by touching a turtle or its habitat and not washing their hands.Symptoms begin 12-72 hours after exposure to the bacteria. They include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, but most people feel better in four to seven days. Is your pet going to make you ill?

Children under age 5, adults over age 65 and individuals with weakened immune systems are most at risk of developing severe salmonella infection. Forty-one percent of the ill individuals in this outbreak are under age 5. The youngest patient is aged one and the oldest is 78.

for more information on diseases go to http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/salmonella/basics/symptoms/con-20029017

for more information on the federal budget go to https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/