Salmonella is a gram negative facultative intracellular anaerobic bacteria that causes foodborne illnesses. Salmonella causes a wide spectrum of disease including gastroenteritis, enteric fever and bacteremia. Antibiotics such as cefotaxime, ampicillin and chloramphenicol are used to treat invasive salmonella disease in which the infection has spread beyond the intestines.
Cefotaxime
Cefotaxime is a cephalosporin antibiotic used in the treatment of Salmonella food poisoning. According to Wrongdiagnosis.com, severe invasive infection with salmonella is treated with a third-generation cephalosporin such as cefotaxime. Cefotaxime weakens and ruptures the bacterial cell wall thus killing the bacteria, and inhibiting the spread of infection.
Chloramphenicol
Chloramphenicol was the first antibiotic used for the successful treatment of Salmonella food poisoning. According to Drugs.com, chloramphenicol exerts a bacteriostatic effect on gram positive and gram negative bacteria. It inhibits microbial protein synthesis by interfering with the transfer of activated amino acids to ribosomes, the location where the transcribed RNA template is translated into a functional protein. The inhibition of protein synthesis kills the bacteria and effectively prevents their growth.
Ampicillin
According to Cureresearch.com, severe salmonella infection that spreads beyond the intestines are treated with antibiotics such as ampicillin. Ampicillin is a penicillin antibiotic and is a successful treatment alternative for chloramphenicol-resistant salmonella strains. Ampicillin interferes with the formation of the bacterial cell wall, causing it to rupture and resulting in the death of the bacteria.
