What is Food Poisoning? Eating infected, rotten, or poisoned food may result in foodborne disease, often known as food poisoning. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea are among the signs of food poisoning that people often experience.
Food poisoning is very uncommon, despite the fact that it is quite unpleasant. According to research institutes, around 1 in 7 gets food poisoning every year. 128,000 of the 48 million individuals are in hospitals.
Symptoms of Food Poisoning
There’s a good probability that food poisoning won’t go unnoticed. Depending on the infection’s source, symptoms might change.
Several of the following symptoms are often present in food poisoning cases:
- Stomach pains
- Diarrhoea
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Reduced appetite
- Slight fever
- Weakness
- Headache
Food poisoning symptoms that might be fatal include:
- More than three days of persistent diarrhoea
- A temperature of 102°F (38.9°C) or greater
- Having trouble speaking or seeing
- Dry mouth, little to no urination, and trouble consuming drinks are all signs of severe dehydration.
- Blood in urine
If you see any of these signs, get in touch with a doctor or get help right away.
What is the duration of food poisoning?
Depending on the source of the infection, the time it takes for symptoms to manifest might be as little as 30 minutes to as long as eight weeks. The majority of instances will be resolved in a week, treatment or no treatment.
Food poisoning causes
Bacteria, parasites, or viruses are the three main causes of the majority of food poisoning cases.
The majority of the food that people consume contains these viruses. However, viruses on food are often killed by heat during cooking before it reaches our plate. Due to their lack of preparation, raw foods are often the cause of food illness.
Occasionally, faecal debris or vomit-borne pathogens may touch food. This is most likely to happen if a sick person prepares food without washing their hands beforehand.
Products including meat, eggs, and dairy are regularly contaminated. Additionally, disease-causing microorganisms may be present in water.
Causative Bacteria
Food poisoning is almost always caused by bacteria. Among the bacterial causes of food poisoning are :
- Shiga toxin-producing E. coli in specific (STEC)
- Monocytogenes Listeria
- Salmonella
- Campylobacter
- Botulism-causing bacteria
- A. Staphylococcus
- Shigella
- Vulnificus Vibrio
Salmonella and E. coli are immediately thought of when considering harmful bacteria, and for good cause.
The most common bacterial cause of food poisoning incidents in the United States is salmonella. A salmonella infection is thought to be the cause of 1,350,000 instances of food poisoning annually, including 26,500 hospitalizations.
Two lesser-known but potentially fatal bacteria that may be found in our food are campylobacter and C. botulinum.
Causative Parasites
Although parasites that spread via food are exceedingly harmful, food poisoning caused by parasites is less frequent than food poisoning caused by bacteria. They consist of:
- Toxoplasma gondii
- Lamblia Giardia
- A number of tapeworms, including:
- Saginata Taenia (beef tapeworm)
- Solium Taenia (pork tapeworm)
- Latum Diphyllobothrium (fish tapeworm)
- Cryptosporidium
- Roundworm of the species Ascaris lumbricoides
- Flukes (flatworms), such as the liver fluke family Opisthorchiidae and the Paragonimus (lung fluke)
- either enterobiasis or pinworms
- Trichinella
Toxoplasmosis is a prominent cause of food poisoning-related deaths in the US. Cat litter boxes may potentially contain Toxoplasma gondii.
Your digestive system may harbour parasites that can go unnoticed for years. If some parasites establish a home in a person’s intestines, they may cause more severe adverse effects, especially in immune-compromised individuals and women who are pregnant.
Causative Viruses
A virus, such as the following, may also result in food poisoning:
- Norovirus, sometimes referred to as the Norwalk virus
- Rotavirus
- Astrovirus
- Sapovirus
- Viral hepatitis A
19 to 21 million cases of the norovirus occur each year. Similar symptoms are caused by other viruses, although they are less prevalent. It is also possible for food to spread the hepatitis A virus, which damages the liver.
Treatment Options
Most food poisoning cases may be handled at home. The following are some methods for treating food poisoning:
- Keep hydrated. It’s essential to drink enough water if you have food illness. Electrolyte-rich sports beverages may be beneficial. Fruit juice and coconut water may aid with tiredness and carbohydrate restoration.
- Steer clear of coffee, which may aggravate the digestive system. An upset stomach may be soothed by decaffeinated teas infused with calming herbs including chamomile, peppermint, and dandelion.
- Use over-the-counter (OTC) drugs following proper prescription: OTC medicines like Pepto-Bismol and loperamide (Imodium), which is used to treat diarrhoea, may help you control nausea.
- The body utilises vomiting and diarrhoea to get the poison out of the system, therefore you should see a doctor before taking these drugs. Additionally, using these drugs may make your condition seem worse than it is and make you put off getting professional help.
- A typical treatment for pinworms is pyrantel pamoate (Reese’s Pinworm Medicine).
- Utilize prescription drugs
- Depending on the organism that caused their sickness, some patients may benefit from prescription drugs even though many instances of food poisoning resolve on their own.
- People who are pregnant, immunocompromised, or elderly may benefit from prescription drugs. Treatment with antibiotics during pregnancy aids in preventing the spread of illness to the developing child.
For the following illnesses, your doctor may advise one of these regimens if you need to take prescription medications:
A. lumbricoides: albendazole (Albenza) or mebendazole, two antiparasitic drugs (Enverm)
Campylobacter: azithromycin as a treatment (Zithromax)
Cryptosporidium: Diarrhea is treated with the antiparasitic drug nitazoxanide (Alinia).
D. latum (fish tapeworm): praziquantel, an antiparasitic (Biltricide)
Mebendazole (Albenza) or albendazole for enterobiasis (pinworms) (Enverm)
Lamblia, G: Itazoxanide (Alinia) (Alinia)
The antibiotics quinacrine, paromomycin, metronidazole (Flagyl), or furazolidone
Tinidazole, an antibiotic and antiparasitic drug, is also known as Tindamax.
L. monocytogenes: ampicillin as a medication, Praziquantel (Biltricide) or albendazole for opisthorchiidae (liver fluke) (Albenza)
Praziquantel (Biltricide) or the antiparasitic drug triclabendazole are alternatives to paragonimus (lung fluke) (Egaten)
Shigella: ciprofloxacin or azithromycin (Zithromax) as an antibiotic (Cipro)
Albendazole (Albenza) or mebendazole for Trichinella (Enverm)
DRUG USE OFF-LABEL
Off-label drug usage refers to the use of a medication for a use other than that for which it has been authorised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The medicine may still be used for that purpose by a physician, nevertheless. This is so that the FDA does not oversee how physicians utilise pharmaceuticals to treat their patients, just the testing and approval of drugs. As a result, your doctor is free to prescribe a medicine if they believe it would benefit your treatment.
Get an anti-toxin
A Clostridium botulinum infection is regarded as a medical emergency. Consult a doctor as soon as you can.
An antitoxin will be given to you by a doctor if you have C. botulinum. B
abyBIG, an unique antitoxin, will be administered to infants (botulism immune globulin).
Rest Well
Getting plenty of rest is essential for folks who have food illness.
If your situation is dire, you may need intravenous (IV) fluid hydration in a hospital if your food poisoning is severe.
In the severe instances of food poisoning, you may need to remain in the hospital for a longer period of time while you recuperate. Rarely, individuals with severe cases of C. botulinum may even need mechanical breathing.
When you get food poisoning, what should you eat and drink?
It’s preferable to progressively delay eating solid meals until after vomiting and diarrhoea have stopped. Instead, gradually return to your usual diet by consuming bland, easy-to-digest foods and low-fat beverages like:
- Sea salt crackers
- toast
- gelatin
- bananas
- rice
- oatmeal
- sour potatoes
- veggie soup
- chicken stock
- sodas without caffeine, like root beer or ginger ale
- fruit juices diluted
- sports beverages
What not to do
Even if you feel better, try to avoid eating the following difficult-to-digest items to keep your stomach from becoming worse:
- Dairy items, particularly milk and cheese
- A fatty diet
- Fried food
- High-spiced foods
- Foods that have a lot of sugar
- Spices in food
Avoid as well:
- Caffeine
- Alcohol
- Nicotine
How Food Poisoning is Diagnosed
Based on your symptoms, a doctor may be able to determine what kind of food poisoning you have.
In extreme situations, tests on your blood, faeces, and consumed food may be performed to identify the cause of the food poisoning. If you have food poisoning, your doctor may order a urine test to determine if you are dehydrated.
The Risk Factors
Food poisoning may affect anybody. According to statistics, almost everyone will have food poisoning at some point in their life.
Some populations are more vulnerable than others. These consist of:
- Immune weakened individuals. Anyone who has an autoimmune disorder or a reduced immune system may be more susceptible to infections and other side effects from food poisoning.
- Pregnant women. Because their bodies are adjusting to changes in their metabolism and circulatory system throughout pregnancy, pregnant persons are more at risk.
- Older people. Additionally, those 65 and older are more likely to get food poisoning. This is due to the possibility that their immune systems do not react promptly to infectious agents.
- Younger children. Because their immune systems are still developing compared to those of adults, children under the age of five are likewise seen as a group at risk. Vomiting and diarrhoea may cause dehydration more readily in young children.
How to Prevent Food Poisoning
The easiest approach to avoid getting food poisoning is to handle your food carefully and steer clear of any potentially dangerous foods.
Due to the methods used in their production and preparation, certain foods are more prone to result in food illness.
Certain foods may contain infectious organisms that are destroyed after cooking, such as:
- meat
- poultry
- eggs
- shellfish
If these items are consumed uncooked, improperly prepared, or if hands and surfaces aren’t washed after contact, food poisoning may result.
Additional foods that might result in food poisoning include:
- Sushi and other fish dishes that are served cold or uncooked
- Hot dogs and deli meats that haven’t been heated or cooked
- Possibly containing flesh from many animals is ground beef.
- Raw milk, raw cheese, and juice
- Produce that is raw and unwashed
Attempt to prevent food poisoning by following these steps:
- Be sure to wash your hands before handling food or cooking.
- Make sure your food is wrapped and kept appropriately.
- Cook eggs and meat to perfection.
- Before using it to make other dishes, sanitise everything that has touch with raw foods.
- Always wash produce before serving it, especially fruits.
Food poisoning seldom poses a serious danger to life. Despite how terrible food poisoning may be, most sufferers fully recover within a few days, even without medical intervention.
