Recently, salmonella outbreaks have struck fear into the hearts of American citizens. As of February 2007, salmonella has appeared in all kinds of foods, more than just eggs and chicken. Peter Pan Peanut Butter, Tomatoes, Cadbury Schweppes Chocolate, Hershey Chocolate, Wild Kitty Cat Food, Basil from Majestic International Spice Corporation of Montebello in California, Orange Juice from Orchid Island Juice Company, Soft Cheese, Raw Milk and Almonds They have been found to contain traces of this deadly bacteria. Salmonella is no longer limited to raw foods like eggs; it can grow on many untreated foods and outbreaks are still very dangerous.

Salmonella causes a lot of vomiting; therefore, people with emetophobia (fear of vomiting) have a terrible experience dealing with salmonella bacteria. Because emetophobia is a very irrational fear of vomiting, people with the disorder will do their best to avoid vomiting, and some may also fear that others will vomit, so it is also difficult for the emetophobic to deal with family members or friends who may have gotten sick with salmonella from 2007.

Emetophobics will tend to show very different symptoms: they have an extreme aversion to careers like nursing that can involve watching people vomit; fear being around children, babies and sick people, because these three groups of people are the most likely to vomit in a sudden moment (in fact, some emetophobics cannot even properly interact with their own newborns or young children because they are afraid of the child vomits); They will avoid social activities, because it is possible that during social activities and parties, others will get drunk and consequently vomit. Emetophobics often exhibit signs of “travel sickness,” a fear of traveling, especially to foreign countries where unfamiliar foods can cause the emetophobic to vomit unexpectedly.

In general, the cause of emetophobia can be traced back to possible vomiting experiences in childhood that were particularly traumatizing or horrible, so the emetophobic goes to great lengths to avoid this experience in the future. Also, if the party punishes the child after the child vomits, the child is much more likely to eventually develop emetophobia than in the usual population. Sometimes emetophobics fear vomiting because of the lack of control that being sick offers them; therefore, to stay in control, emetophobics will try to avoid vomiting again, and this only perpetuates the cycle of emetophobia.

There are many different types of treatment for emetophobia, although there is no “best way,” nor is one method guaranteed to work all the time. Sometimes the person with the phobia is desensitized to vomiting, they are shown images of people vomiting, vomiting and with accompanying sounds, so that the patient gets used to vomiting. The displayed images become increasingly extreme, causing emetophobics to feel increasingly scared and anxious, but also desensitizing them to vomiting in general. Although this treatment does not always work, it is quite helpful and can help when emetophobics are faced with crises like the 2007 salmonella outbreak.