Food poisoning-overview

What is food poisoning

Food poisoning results when you eat food contaminated with bacteria or other pathogens such as parasites or viruses. Your symptoms may range from upset stomach to diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps and dehydration. Most such infections go undiagnosed and unreported.

But the Center for disease control and prevention estimates that each year about 76 million people in the United States become ill from pathogens in food, and about 5,000 people die.

Over 55% of these cases are caused by improper cooking and storing food, and 24% by poor hygiene, such as not washing your hands while preparing food. Only 3% of cases resulting from unsafe food sources. Keeping your hands clean while working with food is the single most important thing you can do to avoid food poisoning.

About 20 bodies may cause food poisoning. Then you can eat food contaminated with bacteria to multiply in the stomach and bowels. Some bacteria give off a toxin when multiplied. As a result, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea occur. Vomiting and diarrhea is the organization how to eliminate the toxin, and most cases of food poisoning their way without having to provide medical care.

Not all invasive organisms cause vomiting as a symptom, but almost all cause diarrhea. Blood in your stool occurs in many types of food poisoning and is deemed to be serious. Abdominal cramps are also common, and sometimes you will have a fever. Be sure to contact a doctor if you have a fever or bloody stools.

Common sources of food poisoning

Campylobacter is the leading cause of bacterial food poisoning in the United States. Generates several million cases a year, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Eating undercooked chicken, or food that has been in contact with raw chicken most often causes campylobacter. The Center for disease control estimates that up to 70%-90% of chickens infected campylobacter.

For the prevention of disease, Cook chicken carefully, with pink, remains. Wash your hands frequently while handling raw chicken. Use paper towels to dry your hands. If you use a dish-cloth or sponge to clean counters, use a new after working with raw chicken. Wash your cutting board with the solution diluted bleach before reuse. And any utensils or dishes contact with raw chicken should be washed and rinsed with SOAP and water before using it again.

E. coli 0157: H7 contamination causes an estimated 25,000 cases of food poisoning each year in the USA. Most of these result from undercooked, contaminated ground beef. Organism lives in the intestines of healthy cows. Meat can become contaminated during slaughter, when mixed with beef is ground into hamburger intestinal fecal matter. Contaminated meat looks and smells normal, therefore, is not easily detectable. Bacteria of cow udders or milking machines also can contaminate raw milk.

To prevent this form of food poisoning, Cook all ground beef until it shows no pink. Make sure that all the meat juices are clear, not pink or red, and that the Interior of the meat is hot. If you are served an undercooked hamburger at a restaurant, send it back. Drink only pasteurized milk products and drink only water treated with chlorine or other disinfectants.

Caused by botulism (clostridium botulinum), a spore. This form of food poisoning is very rare, but can be life-threatening. Can result from improper eating processed low-acid foods, such as green beans, mushrooms, spinach, olives and beef or fish. Inappropriate home canning methods represent often botulism cases. Processed incorrectly commercial products can also cause this serious disorder.

In order to avoid botulism, not even taste canned foods that are soft, is deteriorating, in fermentation or not smell right. Not worth a life-threatening illness. In case of doubt, reject.

Botyliasis is most common in spring and summer, and is rare in winter. Infants younger than one year of age is the highest risk. Symptoms include muscle weakness, a weak cry, difficulty feeding, constipation, head lag, increased heart rate and decreased gag reflex. A baby with botulism is described as a "floppy baby" as the baby will have weak muscles, particularly arms, legs and neck.

Botyliasis has been associated with eating honey. The Center for disease control indicates that honey should not be given to infants younger than six months, and the honey Industry Council extends the security boundary in one year. Honey is an essential food for infants, and never should be given to them.

Summary of food poisoning

Most symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea caused by viral infections, and it is not true cases of food poisoning. An accurate diagnosis may be difficult, because the disease-causing organisms in different kinds of food and various periods of incubation. Also, eating a really sick immediately afterwards is not the standard way for food poisoning. Most people don't know that foods consumed several days previously may be the cause of food poisoning. Always be sure to consult a doctor when they face severe gastrointestinal symptoms.

The information in this article was gathered from the Web site security information http://wellness.ucdavis.edu and on the website of the national digestive diseases Information Clearinghouse http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/bacteria/index.htmin