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Foodborne Illnesses
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Foodborne illnesses represent a total of 76 million cases in the US every year, according to the CDC. Foodborne illnesses are infectious diseases that are caused by food that has been contaminated by bacteria or viruses. The contamination generally occurs by improperly cooking food or by contact with people who are handling food and who have the bacteria or virus on their hands. Common bacteria or viruses that cause Foodbourne illnesses include Salmonella, Hepatitis A, E. coli O157:H7, Shigella, Campylobacter, Listeria and Norovirus. About 325,000 individuals are hospitalized with Foodbourne illnesses and up to 5000 die. The annual costs of the disease to the country are between $6.5 and $35 billion dollars.
Combined, food poisoning cases involve bacteria in 30 percent of cases, viruses in 67 percent of cases and parasites in 3 percent of cases. There has been a decrease in cases of E. coli infestation of food by 42 percent since 1996 and reports of Campylobacter infections have decreased by 31 percent. The same is true with reductions in infections by Yersinia, Salmonella and Cryptosporidia.
Foodborne illnesses can be caused by chemicals. The chemicals taint the food during the production process and make a person sick when they eat the food. This can cause symptoms similar to foodborne illnesses caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites. The most common illnesses include fever, diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration and abdominal cramps. Many food illnesses are undiagnosed and are believed to be the "stomach flu". For this reason, a rough estimate of the number of foodborne illnesses can be as high as 76 million per year.
Raw food is the most common cause of foodborne illnesses because they haven't been sterilized by cooking. This includes raw meat and raw poultry that were contaminated in the slaughter house. Seafood can also be contaminated at the time of harvest or during processing. Things like spinach, tomatoes, lettuce, bean sprouts and melons can have contamination due to Shigella, Salmonella, or E. coli O157:H7. It can occur during harvesting of the foods, during storage or processing or in the final preparation of the food. Soil can contaminate the food at its source. When this kind of food is handled and becomes contaminated, the most common organism is Norwalk virus or its related viruses.
Bacteria can grow on food that is left out for more than about two hours at room temperature. You can't see or smell the bacteria in the beginning and the food can look completely normal. When you freeze contaminated food, you don't kill the bacteria and they can infect you when you reheat the food, especially if you don't reheat it enough. The same is true for refrigeration of food. Those at greatest risk of bacterial infections include older people, younger children, pregnant women and their unborn fetuses.
Foodborne illnesses often are self limited and go away after a few days. Some types of foodborne illnesses can cause serious complications such as Listeria infections and Clostridium botulinum infections. These diseases can cause spontaneous abortion in pregnant women or death in others. The E. coli O157:H7 bacterium can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome, kidney failure and death. This is often a condition of children under the age of ten years. Such an infection can come from drinking contaminated juices that are unpasteurized, direct contact with someone who is infected or contaminated water. In hemolytic uremic syndrome from foodborne illnesses, you can get abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, and diarrhea. The diarrhea can be bloody in nature. The hemolytic uremic syndrome doesn't occur until five to ten days following the illness. Three to five percent of children die from this illness. It results in a loss of circulating blood cells, blood platelets and a reduced flow of blood to the various organs. There can be seizures, pancreatitis, heart failure and diabetes.
The doctor can do tests to determine the cause of the illness. This can include a stool test, which can grow the offending bacteria. A sample of the food suspected to be the cause can be cultures for bacterial toxins, parasites, viruses or parasites. Parasites can often be seen in samples of the stool.
Foodborne illnesses can be treated by increasing fluids by mouth or through an IV so that the patient doesn't get dehydrated. If an individual develops hemolytic uremic syndrome, supportive measures need to be taken and the individual must have medications to control blood pressure and improve kidney function. Sometimes dialysis is necessary. Sometimes blood transfusions are necessary.