The most common symptoms of a pathogenic bacterial infection include prolonged diarrhoea, bloody diarrhoea, mucus in the stool, abdominal pain and cramping, and nausea. Visitors may become infected by eating or drinking anything that has been contaminated with the bacteria, even things as simple as tap water, ice cubes in a drink, a fresh salad, or food from a vendor's stall. Some of these bacteria may be true pathogens while others are strains of gastrointestinal bacteria that are normal flora for the local inhabitants but cause gastrointestinal distress to the tourist. People who travel outside Australia, especially to developing nations, may face a greater risk of being exposed to disease-causing bacteria. Examples of contaminated sources include raw or undercooked eggs, poultry or beef, unpasteurised milk, and untreated water from lakes, streams, and (occasionally) from community water supplies. Pathogenic bacteria can enter and infect the digestive tract when someone eats food or drinks water that is contaminated (food poisoning). The normal flora may also be affected by anti-cancer drugs and when a person has a weakened immune system, leading to bacterial overgrowth and symptoms such as diarrhoea and abdominal pain. Sometimes, the balance of the normal flora may be affected by the administration of antibiotics the drugs inhibit the growth of normal flora and allow bacteria resistant to the antibiotic to survive and overgrow the digestive tract. They play an important role in the digestion of food, and their presence keeps a check on the growth of disease-causing bacteria. Certain bacteria and fungi called normal flora or the microbiome inhabit everyone's gastrointestinal tract. The bacteria found in stool are representative of the bacteria that are present in the gastrointestinal tract. Viral studies on stool specimens usually need to be requested separately. The test helps to determine if pathogenic bacteria are the cause of gastrointestinal symptoms (gastroenteritis). It is important to note that viruses, such as norovirus, cause many cases of diarrhoea in the community and will not be identified on a bacterial stool culture. The test distinguishes between the types of bacteria that cause disease ( pathogenic) and the types that are normally found in the digestive tract ( normal flora). The stool culture is a test that detects and identifies bacteria that cause infections of the lower digestive tract.
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