We’ve all been there: doubled over in pain as stomach cramps grip your guts; the panicked shuffle to the nearest bathroom; the waves of nausea and chills as you cry out loud, “oh no, what did I eat??”. At the very least, food poisoning is a humbling experience, but at the worst, it can be absolutely deadly. In this episode, we take a deep dive into one group of pathogens commonly responsible for outbreaks of food-borne illness, the infamous Salmonella. We start first with an exploration into how and why these bacteria make you sick before turning towards the history of these pathogens, a history which includes a brief jaunt through a bizarre story involving a cult, bioterrorism, and a small Oregon town. Finally, we wrap up the episode with a look at Salmonella by the numbers today. You’ll leave this episode brimming with Salmonella knowledge, thinking twice about how well you cook your chicken or wash your veggies, and contemplating how fast you can get your hands on a food thermometer. Trust us – you’re not gonna want to miss this one!
| History | Biology |
| Hardy, Anne. Salmonella Infections, Networks of Knowledge and Public Health in Britain 1880-1975. Oxford University Press, 2015. | Coburn, B., Grassl, G.A. and Finlay, B.B., 2007. Salmonella, the host and disease: a brief review. Immunology and cell biology, 85(2), pp.112-118. |
| Lytton, Timothy D. Outbreak: Foodborne illness and the struggle for food safety. University of Chicago Press, 2019. | Ferrari, R.G., Rosario, D.K., Cunha-Neto, A., Mano, S.B., Figueiredo, E.E. and Conte-Junior, C.A., 2019. Worldwide epidemiology of Salmonella serovars in animal-based foods: a meta-analysis. Applied and environmental microbiology, 85(14), pp.e00591-19. |
| McCormack, Win, ed. The Rajneesh Chronicles: The True Story of the Cult that Unleashed the First Act of Bioterrorism on US Soil. Tin House Books, 2010. | Acheson, D. and Hohmann, E.L., 2001. Nontyphoidal salmonellosis. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 32(2), pp.263-269. |
| Bawn, Matt, et al. “Evolution of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium driven by anthropogenic selection and niche adaptation.” PLoS genetics 16.6 (2020): e1008850. | Rogers, A.W., Tsolis, R.M. and Bäumler, A.J., 2021. Salmonella versus the Microbiome. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, 85(1), pp.e00027-19. |
| De-Dios, Toni, et al. “Salmonella enterica from a soldier from the 1652 siege of Barcelona (Spain) supports historical transatlantic epidemic contacts.” Iscience 24.9 (2021): 103021. | Gal-Mor, O., Boyle, E.C. and Grassl, G.A., 2014. Same species, different diseases: how and why typhoidal and non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica serovars differ. Frontiers in microbiology, 5, p.391. |
| Dawoud, Turki M., et al. “Overview of salmonellosis and food-borne Salmonella: historical and current perspectives.” Producing Safe Eggs. Academic Press, 2017. 113-138. | Jajere, S.M., 2019. A review of Salmonella enterica with particular focus on the pathogenicity and virulence factors, host specificity and antimicrobial resistance including multidrug resistance. Veterinary world, 12(4), p.504. |
| Hardy, Anne. “Food, hygiene, and the laboratory. A short history of food poisoning in Britain, circa 1850–1950.” Social History of Medicine 12.2 (1999): 293-311. | VT Nair, D., Venkitanarayanan, K. and Kollanoor Johny, A., 2018. Antibiotic-resistant Salmonella in the food supply and the potential role of antibiotic alternatives for control. Foods, 7(10), p.167. |
| Hardy, A. “Salmonella: a continuing problem.” Postgraduate Medical Journal 80.947 (2004): 541-545. | https://www.propublica.org/article/salmonella-chicken-usda-food-safety |
| Gordon, M.A., 2011. Invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella disease–epidemiology, pathogenesis and diagnosis. Current opinion in infectious diseases, 24(5), p.484. | |
| Liu, H., Whitehouse, C.A. and Li, B., 2018. Presence and persistence of Salmonella in water: the impact on microbial quality of water and food safety. Frontiers in Public Health, 6, p.159. | |
| Stanaway, J.D., Parisi, A., Sarkar, K., Blacker, B.F., Reiner, R.C., Hay, S.I., Nixon, M.R., Dolecek, C., James, S.L., Mokdad, A.H. and Abebe, G., 2019. The global burden of non-typhoidal salmonella invasive disease: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 19(12), pp.1312-1324. | |
| World Health Organization, 2015. WHO estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases: foodborne disease burden epidemiology reference group 2007-2015. World Health Organization. | |
| https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/pdf/threats-report/nt-salmonella-508.pdf |
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