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Original poster

salmanella in babies is it serious !!!!!!!!!

15 replies

twospecialgirls · 28/01/2008 20:16

my cousin rang me today and said her 9 month son has salmanella ( prob spelt wrong ) is it serious apparantly he has had it for 3 months !!! docs kept fobbing her off now its been confirmed

OP posts:

3andnomore · 29/01/2008 13:47

OMG, that is so terrible.
Salmonella is a very serious infection. Obviously it depends from individual to individual on how bad it is.
My uncle had it a few years back, and poor thing ended up in pads for a long time, due to being incontinent...

kindersurprise · 29/01/2008 13:51

It can be serious. I am actually astonished that they did not diagnose it faster.

DS had it when he was months old. He had very bad diarri.. how do you spell that? You know what I mean. He was obviously not well.

We went to GP and he tested his stool, we got the results the next day iirr. He was given antibiotics and was fine within a day or two.

The problem with young babies is the loss of fluids, they have to watch them carefully to make sure they do not get dehydrated.

Original poster

twospecialgirls · 29/01/2008 21:12

yeah he has had diaria.... cant spell it either for about three weeks and they didnt diagnose it its terrible isnt it lets hope he gets better now hes on antibiotics x

OP posts:

kindersurprise · 29/01/2008 21:21

Poor little boy.

That is disgraceful. They should have tested for food poisoning.

She will probably have to have him tested again until he is clear. Otherwise he will not be allowed to go to nursery/childcare. It can take a long time until he gets the all clear.

I assume she has been given the information about how not to pass it on to anyone else?

Hope he gets better soon.

Btw, just looked it up. diarrhoea

emandjules · 29/01/2008 21:32

my nephew had salmonella at 4 months but was not free of it til 1 year. saying that he only had one bout of diarrhoea and no other symptoms. can be serious but not always

3andnomore · 30/01/2008 09:37

I know, really daft question...but how can such young children get infected with salmonella?

kindersurprise · 30/01/2008 10:29

We wondered that as well, 3andnomore.

We had a woman from the environmental health come and see us (he was diagnosed when we were in Scotland visiting my parents).

She asked if I had perhaps prepared chicken for ourselves and not washed hands properly before making up DS's bottle. Or if we had contact with pets/animals/zoo.

We never found out. And she gave me a huge guilt trip, I was fanatical about disinfecting everything for a while.

It wasn't until much later that I posted on MN about it (hadn't heard of MN at the time, more is the pity) and someone said that it might have been the formula powder.

If the bottles are not made up with BOILING water, then there is a risk of food poisoning as the formula is not sterile.

3andnomore · 30/01/2008 10:34

kinder...oh that is quite shocking, isn't it...I can understand how you must have felt guilty...

kindersurprise · 30/01/2008 10:45

It is shocking, and it explains the problem with Nestle that lots of people have.

Companies like Nestle promote FF in developing countries where the food hygiene leaves a lot to be deserved. In western countries salmonella can be a fairly serious illness, but with modern medical care is generally quite treatable.

The women, and of course their babies, in third world countries are not so lucky.

3andnomore · 30/01/2008 10:56

Absolutely...
I am a Nestle Boycotter!

orangina · 30/01/2008 11:07

dd had salmonella last year, aged about 20 months. she did a bit of vomitting, but her nappies were toxic for a few weeks, which i why i brought in a sample to get it tested, as it didn't seem right. GP did slightly treat me as though she was humouring me by sending it off for testing (in a kind of "don't you know that poo is smelly?" kind of way...), and was rather surprised when it came back testing positive for salmonella. Most medicals say they generally don't treat salmonella, if there aren't too many obvious symptoms in the child, and within a few more weeks, her napopies etc had cleared up. I did give her some probiotic powders to help her healthy gut bacteria, but that was it.
I was surprised they didn't make more of it, but when I spoke to my (GP) mother and did my research on the internet, they all more or less said the same thing.
Hope that is slightly reassuring?!

orangina · 30/01/2008 11:08

btw, i don't know how she got it either. i was pregnant at the time and had a bit of a tummy bug too, and got myself tested, but was clear....

Eclair69 · 02/12/2010 12:39

Hi, I would appreciate some advice from anybody who's baby has been diagnosied with Salmonella Infection: my son is now nearly 10 months old and apparently has had this for 8 or 10 weeks. Although he has no symptoms of it anymore his stool samples are positive every week and the doctor has told us not to let him have contact with other babies or young children. With xmas and new year coming up it will be diffeicult to avoid family and friends with youngsters. We are taking precautions with hygiene etc but can anyone help with information or advice on how long I will have to keep him isolated and whether it is ok to mix with others for short period if he has no physical contact. This is really getting me down as it has been 3 months and the doctors cannot tell me when he will be clear of it and now they are saying he is a carrier - so what if he is a carrier permanently - do I never take him to playgroups etc? I would really like some clarification. Thank you - feeling a bit at the end of my tether with the doctors .

tabouleh · 03/12/2010 21:10

kindersurprise and others as mentioned above formula powder is not sterile.

It may be contaminated with salmonella.

However it should not be made with boiling water as that would harm the nutrients in the milk.

It should be made with water which is 70 degrees C. This means boiling 1 litre of water and leaving it for 30 minutes in the kettle.

It is best to make a fresh bottle each time. However this is obviously difficult.

So there are some options involving using a flask of water at 70 degrees or making in advance and cooling rapidly and refridgerating.

This is far safer than making formula with cool water.

See this leaflet for HCPs or this WHO leaflet.

Eclair69 - I don't have any medical knowledge but I thought I would have a look on patient.co.uk website for you.

There is advice about preventing infection spreading and it mentions isolating for 48 hours after any d&v.

Perhaps you could discuss with your local environmental health department?

Eachpeach80 · 03/12/2010 22:22

eclair this must be very frustrating. This probably isn't what you want to hear but I think you need to discuss this with the doctors and follow their advice. Salmonella is potentially a very serious infection that could be life threatening to some. Obviously you can't "quarantine" him forever, you need to ask his treating doctors these questions... Hope you get the all clear soon.

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