What is food poisoning?
Food poisoning results when you eat food contaminated with bacteria or other pathogens as parasites or viruses. Symptoms may vary from stomach to diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps and dehydration. Most of these infections go undiagnosed and unreported.
But the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that every year about 76 million people in the United States become ill from pathogens in food, and about 5,000 of them die.
More than 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 are from unsafe food sources. Keeping hands clean while working with the food is the most important thing you can do to prevent food poisoning.
About 20 bodies can cause food poisoning. After eating food contaminated with bacteria, they will multiply in your stomach and intestines. Some bacteria that exude a toxin when they multiply. Consequently, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea may occur. Vomiting and diarrhea are the body's way of eliminating toxin, and most cases of food poisoning to run their course without needing medical care.
Not all invasive organisms cause vomiting as a symptom, but almost all of them cause diarrhea. Blood in your stool occurs in many types of food poisoning and is considered to be serious. Abdominal cramps are also common, and sometimes you 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. It causes many cases million a year, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Eating undercooked chicken, or food that has been in contact with raw chicken most commonly causes campylobacter. The Center for Disease Control estimates that up to 70%-90% of chickens are infected with campylobacter.
To prevent the disease, cooking chicken thoroughly, with no remaining pink. Wash hands frequently while handling raw chicken. Use paper towels for drying hands. If you are using a sponge or a dish cloth to wipe counters, use a new after working with raw chicken. Wash the plate with a diluted bleach solution begging. And any tools or contact with raw chicken dishes should be washed and rinsed with water and SOAP before using again.
E. coli 0157: H7 infection causes an approximately 25,000 cases of food poisoning each year in the United States. Most of these result from undercooked, contaminated ground beef. The organism lives in the intestine of healthy cows. Meat can become contaminated during the slaughter when intestinal fecal matter is mixed with beef that is ground into hamburger. Contaminated meat Looks and smells normal, so it's not easily detectable. Bacteria on cow udders or milking can also contaminate raw milk.
To prevent this form of food poisoning, cooking all ground beef until rose is showing. 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 back. Eating only pasteurized milk products and drink only water treated with chlorine or other disinfectants.
Botulism is caused by clostridium botulinum, a bacterium sporeforming. This form of food poisoning is very rare, but can be life-threatening. Can result from eating improperly processed foods, low acidity, like green beans, mushrooms, spinach, olives, meat or fish. Improper home canning methods represent often cases of botulism. Improperly processed commercial products can also cause this serious disorder.
To avoid botulism, not the taste even canned food that are soft, deteriorating, fermentation or smell right. It is not worth a deadly disease. If In doubt, throw it.
Infant botulism is most common in spring and summer and is uncommon in the winter. Younger than one year old infants are at higher risk. Symptoms include muscle weakness, a weak cry, feeding difficulties, obstipation, head lag, increased heart rate and a gag reflex decreased. A child with botulism is described as a "floppy baby", as the child will have weak muscles, especially in the arms, legs and neck.
Infant botulism has been associated with eating honey. Center for Disease Control suggests that honey should not be administered to children under the age of six months, and the honey Industry Council extends the safe limit for a year. Honey is not an essential food for infants and should never be given to them.
Summary of food poisoning
Most symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea are due to viral infections and are not real cases of food poisoning. Accurate diagnosis can be difficult because pathogens are found in different types of food and have different incubation periods. Also, eating a substance and fall ill immediately following is not the typical course for food poisoning. Most people are not aware that food eaten several days previously may be the cause of food poisoning. Always be sure to consult a doctor when experiencing severe gastrointestinal symptoms.
Information in this article was collected by the site safety information http://wellness.ucdavis.edu and to the website of the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse of to http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/bacteria/index.htm