Bugs Parade

This gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium is a minor cause of gastroenteritis in warm climates. It is found in freshwater fish, shellfish, cattle, goats, toads, snakes, cats, dogs and monkeys. Humans are infected through the consumption of contaminated water and food.

Symptoms of nausea, diarrhea, fever, chills and abdominal pain are produced within 24 hours, and normally last for about 1 to 7 days. However, this mild gastroenteritis could lead to severe complications such as septicemia in immunocompromised individuals, cancer patients etc.

A major outbreak was reported in North Carolina in the summer of 1980, among a group of people who consumed roasted oyster at a party. Thirty-six people out of one hundred and fifty who ate the oysters had to be hospitalized and treated for severe vomiting and diarrhea.

Prevention is not difficult. Drink only boiled / filtered water, cook your food well and eat it when it is still fresh. Stay away from unclean bathing sites.

Campylobacter jejuni:

This slender bacterium is the major cause of gastroenteritis in several parts of the world. It has been isolated from raw chickens, healthy cattle and flies.

The bacterium spreads to humans from contaminated food and water. Ingestion of about 400-500 bacteria is enough to produce symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, which last for 7-10 days. In the case of patients with other predisposing conditions, severe complications like arthritis, renal failure and septicemia may occur. Very rarely the initial infection could lead to meningitis, colitis and cholecystitis. Mortality is about one in thousand.

Erythromycin is the drug of choice.

Here again, prevention is easy. Cook your chickens well, chlorinate bathing and drinking water supplies, and get rid of the lousy fly.

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