Symptoms of Salmonellosis: What to Watch For and When to Seek Help

When you get salmonellosis, a bacterial infection caused by Salmonella bacteria, often from contaminated food or water. Also known as salmonella infection, it’s one of the most common causes of food poisoning worldwide. Most people recover on their own, but the symptoms can hit hard and fast—usually within 6 to 48 hours after eating something tainted.

The big three signs are diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. You might also feel nauseous, vomit, or lose your appetite. Headaches and chills are common too. These symptoms don’t always mean it’s salmonellosis—many bugs cause similar issues—but if they stick around for more than a couple days or get worse, you need to pay attention. Children under 5, adults over 65, pregnant women, and anyone with a weak immune system are at higher risk for serious complications like dehydration or the infection spreading to the bloodstream.

Salmonella doesn’t just come from undercooked chicken. It’s also in raw eggs, unpasteurized milk, sprouts, and even pet reptiles or birds. People often don’t realize they’re exposed until symptoms show up. That’s why tracking what you ate in the last two days matters. If multiple people got sick after eating the same meal, that’s a red flag. The CDC reports over 1 million cases in the U.S. every year, and many go unreported because people think it’s just a bad stomach bug.

You won’t always need antibiotics—most cases clear up without them. But if you’re passing watery stools more than six times a day, feel dizzy when standing, have a fever over 102°F, or see blood in your stool, you should see a doctor. Dehydration is the real danger here, especially for kids and older adults. A simple oral rehydration solution can make a big difference, but if you can’t keep fluids down, you might need IV fluids in the hospital.

What you’ll find in the posts below are real, practical guides on how salmonellosis connects to other health issues, how it’s diagnosed, what medications help or hurt, and how it overlaps with other conditions like antibiotic resistance or gut health. Some posts dive into how common drugs might mask symptoms or make recovery harder. Others explain how to tell the difference between salmonellosis and other foodborne illnesses. This isn’t just a list of symptoms—it’s a toolkit to understand what’s really happening in your body when you get sick from food.