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Effective control measures urged to reduce salmonella exposure in Taiwan
Common sense approaches to reducing gastrointestinal illness led to reductions in salmonella infections among a group of Taiwanese children, according to study findings published online.
Yhu-Chering Huang, MD, PhD, of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, and colleagues reported on data they derived from a case-control study of about 400 children aged 2 to 60 months, all of whom had salmonella infection.
According to Huang and colleagues, behaviors such as breast-feeding, consuming food prepared by caregivers and hand-washing were all protective against infection in their study, which was conducted from January 2009 to October 2010.
However, there was a slightly elevated risk for infection in babies who drank instant powdered milk or purchased groundwater within a week before enrollment. Other risk factors for infection included having a caregiver or household member with diarrhea, or a recent trip to the doctor.
“Powdered milk itself is not sterile and can be contaminated during the manufacturing process,” the researchers said, adding that powdered milk has been linked to salmonella outbreaks in other parts of the world.
Disclosure: Huang reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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