Pneumonia

PREVALENCE OF SALMONELLA AND SOME

ENTEROBACTERIACEAE IN STREET FOODS

IN CAUAYAN CITY

A Research

Presented to the

Faculty of the Graduate School

University of La Salette

Santiago City

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree

Masters of Science in Public Health

By:

Arnold Vinson A. Indong, RMT

Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

Importance of the Study

There is absolute truth in the saying that “Health is Wealth”. Health problems greatly affect production and income for the simple reason that a person cannot work well or could not even at all when he is suffering from a certain illness.

Some illness may arise from the food that people eat. Precautions should then be taken in the preparation and handling of the food that people eat in order to ensure their safety. Most importantly, infections caused by salmonella are major problems worldwide both in developed and undeveloped countries (Kephler, 1991).

Here in Isabela, particularly in Cauayan City, meat is considered an important source of protein. Meat is processed for public consumption. Pork, for instance, is processed, whether preserved or sold cooked. However, meat and meat products contain nutrients to support the growth and multiplication of microorganisms. These microorganisms can cause illness which affect people. One of these illnesses is salmonellosis.

Salmonellosis is an illness caused by an infection with bacteria of the genus Salmonella which most often affects the gastrointestinal tract. The salmonellosis may range in severity from the very mild, almost imperceptible, to very serious, sometimes even fatal as in the disease known as typhoid fever (Chatfield, 1992).

In 2013, records from the Department of Health (DOH) of the Municipality of Cauayan showed 32 cases of typhoid fever while 27 cases were reported from January to September in 2014.

S. typhoid or S. typhi can be isolated from blood samples of patients and confirmed by the antigen antibody reaction using...