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Salmonella in the Caribbean
Whitney L. Tarkington
SNHU
Milestone One
PHE 330: Epidemiology
Ms. Kate Tullio
March 28, 2021
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Salmonella is a bacterial infection of the intestines and is shed through feces.
Symptoms include fever, diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting, headache, chills, and nausea
(Indar-Harrinauth et al., 2004). Risk factors associated with salmonella infection is increased
exposure (examples: international travel and/or owning or handling birds or reptiles), stomacl
or bowel disorders (examples: frequent use of antibiotics, antacid use, inflammatory bowel
disease), and immune issues (Salmonella infection-symptoms and causes, n.d.). Salmonella is
transmitted through contaminated food (typically foods of animal origin like poultry, eggs.
milk), and water and by touching an infected animal then not washing hands afterwards. In the
case of the Salmonella in Trinidad and Tobago, the mode of transmission appeared to be
mainly from ingesting foods containing raw eggs.
Incidence is the number of new cases of a health event during a given period in a
population. Incidence rate is calculated as # of new cases/total # of population x 100,000.
While the prevalence is the total number of cases of a health event in a specified population
and is calculated as the total # of cases/total population x 100,000. Based on the information
from Table 1 in the article Salmonella in the Caribbean, the incidence for 1997 would be
11.03 per 100,000(139/1,260,000 x 100,000) and the prevalence would be 87.06 per 100,000
(1,097/1,260,000 x 100,000) (Indar-Harrinauth et al., 2004). Mortality rate is calculated as the
# of deaths during a given period/population from which deaths occurred x 100,000. In the
case of Salmonella in the Caribbean there were four deaths per year over a ten-year period
(Indar-Harrinauth et al., 2004). From that information, the mortality rate of salmonella would
be 3.17:this would come from 40 / 1.260.000 x 100.000
The case control study conducted on potential sources of salmonella exposure in
Trinidad and Tobago show an odds ratio of 18.9 for dishes that contain raw or undercooked
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eggs; this means an individual is 18.9x more likely to become infected with salmonella by
eating raw or undercooked eggs (Indar-Harrinauth et al., 2004). The study also showed an
odds ratio of 1.3 for exposure to live chickens (Indar-Harrinauth et al., 2004). One could
conclude from this information, the best way to prevent a salmonella infection would be to
thoroughly cook meals, especially those containing animal products and thoroughly washing
hands. While salmonella is a communicable disease, it is very preventable with proper
cooking methods and proper hygiene.