Salmonella: No. 1 Cause of Death in Everyday Food, Treatment Dilemmas

Several deaths have recently been linked to eating a certain kind of fruit, yet the cause of death can be found in other everyday foods. On Nov. 12, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a recall for salmonella-contaminated cantaloupes. Three deaths have been announced over the past month, adding to the hundreds caused by one of the most lethal food poisoning pathogens in the United States. Since salmonella’s discovery nearly 150 years ago, humans have tried and failed to eradicate this bacterium. Salmonella: Why Is It So Common in Food? Salmonella, which looks like a tiny rod with long tails, is the number one cause of hospitalizations and deaths from foodborne illnesses in the United States each year....