Martha Stewart Salmonella Sickness: Celebrity Poisoned by Thanksgiving Turkeys
Martha Stewart has reported that she got Salmonella poisoning from Thanksgiving Turkeys this year. She reportedly became very sick after putting her hands on too many turkeys.
Stewart has reported that she became very sick and was bedridden with the food-borne illness. The 71 year old celebrity was forced to cancel numerous public appearances as well as some important business meetings due to the sickness.
Stewart has said, "I never get sick, but I came down with salmonella. I think I caught it because I was handling so many turkeys around Thanksgiving. I was on the Today show, I did a number of other [holiday] appearances. It really hit me hard and I was in bed for days. It was terrible," according to The New York Post.
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Salmonella can be extremely serious, however, Stewart was able to overcome the illness and has since made a full recovery. She did, however, confirm that she did lose weight during the sickness.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Salmonella is the most common source of food poisoning in the nation.
It is usually present in the gut of humans and animals, and can therefore get in food, most commonly in raw poultry or meat, via animal feces. Sickness comes if the food is not cooked to a hot enough temperature, meaning that the bacteria are not killed off.
Symptoms of Salmonella include diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, blood in the stool, fever, chills and muscle pains, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Other complications are also known in people with weakened immune systems and can include dehydration, bacterial infection of the bloodstream and reactive arthritis. These symptoms are more common in children, elderly, pregnant women or organ transplant recipients.
There are about 40,000 reported cases of salmonellosis each year in the U.S., according to WebMD.
Salmonella doesn't usually need to be treated, as it goes away on its own after a few days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, if a person has been severely affected and is dehydrated because of the infection, they may be hospitalized to receive intravenous fluids for rehydration. Antibiotics might also be necessary if infection spreads.
