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Pathogenesis

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

The clinical effects of Salmonella inoculation depends upon the organism's virulence factors and host defence factors.

Host factors:

  • very young or very old, other illness, immune suppression, gastric hypochlorhydria - infecting dose must usually be greater than 100,000 organism though in the presence of hypochlorhydria, a lower infective dose may cause illness

Virulence factors:

  • S. cholerae suis is prone to cause septicaemia
  • S. virchow and S. dublin have increased invasive potential
  • S. typhimurium may possess specific plasmids increasing virulence

Once infection is established, diarrhoea occurs due to enterotoxin-induced electrolyte transport defects across the intestinal mucosa of the ileum and due to invasive inflammation of the colon and lower ileum.

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