Staphylococcus aureus poisoning

General or Other | General Practice | Staphylococcus aureus poisoning (Disease)


Description

Staphylococcus aureus is a bacteria housed in the nostrils and / or intestine, the presence of the tegumene is transient. The environment, we found in: scaling hands or contaminated excrement.

Causes and Risk factors

Staphylococcus aureus food poisoning is often caused when a food handler contaminates food products that are served or stored at room- or refrigerator temperature. Common examples of such foods are desserts (especially custards and cream-filled or topped desserts), salads (especially those containing mayonnaise, such as tuna salad, potato salad, and macaroni salad), poultry and other egg products, and casseroles.

The bacteria produce a toxin in the food, which causes most of the symptoms. Risk factors include: eating food that was prepared by a person with a skin infection (these infections commonly contain Staphylococcus aureus bacteria), eating food kept at room temperature, eating improperly prepared food, eating the same food as someone who has symptoms.

Diagnosis and Treatment

In cases of minor skin infections, staphylococcal infections are commonly diagnosed by their appearance without the need for laboratory testing. Others require culturing of samples of blood or infected body fluids. The laboratory establishes the diagnosis and performs special tests to determine which antibiotics are effective against the bacteria.

Minor skin infections are usually treated with an antibiotic ointment such as a nonprescription triple-antibiotic mixture. In some cases, oral antibiotics may be given for skin infections. Additionally, if abscesses are present, they are surgically drained.

More serious and life-threatening infections are treated with intravenous antibiotics. The choice of antibiotic depends on the susceptibility of the particular staphylococcal strain as determined by culture results in the laboratory. Some Staph strains, such as MRSA (see next section), are resistant to many antibiotics. ...