In May 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalled Jif peanut butter due to potential salmonella contamination. In the last 5 years alone, there have been ~35 food-related salmonella outbreaks. Salmonella enterica is a gram-negative pathogen that typically invades the intestines to cause disease. People who get salmonella infection experience symptoms with varying degrees of severity—many have diarrhea and fever, while some have no symptoms at all. So, what dictates the disease outcome during salmonellosis? There can be myriad factors at play, like differences in the strains of salmonella that cause infections, or variations in the genetic make-up or immune responses of individuals. In other words, not all cells (be they the host or the pathogen) are the same or have similar physiology. These factors can result in a wide clinical spectrum of salmonella infection.
