Food poisoning

Food poisoning also called food-borne illness, can be defined as sudden illness that occurs after the ingestion for contaminated food or the drink.

There is no definite time limit when symptoms of food poisoning are felt by the patient after consuming a toxic or contaminated food. The symptoms, varying in degree and combination, include abdominal pain, vomiting diarrhea, and headache; more serious cases can result in life threatening neurologic hepatic and renal syndromes leading to permanent disability or death.

Symptoms of potentially life-threatening food poisoning include: diarrhea persisting for more than three days; a fever higher than 101.5°F; difficulty seeing or speaking; symptoms of severe dehydration, which may include dry mouth, passing little to no urine, and difficulty keeping fluids down; bloody urine.

Infectious organisms—including various bacteria, viruses and parasites—or their toxins are the most common causes of food poisoning. An outbreak if it happened that symptoms of the disease appeared in more than two people, and laboratory studies have shown that the ingested food is the direct cause by planting the bacteria that cause poisoning, and food poisoning caused by bacteria is the main cause in more than 80% of food poisoning cases.

The most common form of food poisoning is salmonellosis, a type of food poisoning caused by salmonella bacteria. Other common types of food poisoning include botulism, shigellosis, mushroom poisoning, cryptosporidiosis food poisoning campylocater food poisoning ,Escherichia coli food poisoning, and staphylococcus food poisoning.

When caused by a bacteria species, they secrete poisonous substances known as toxins. These toxins are harmful to the body’s systems. The toxins are extremely potent and are rapidly adsorbed by the GIT which can become bounded to tissues causing negative effects. Some also secret enterotoxins which makes them resist to heat therefore difficult to control.

Contamination of food can happen at any point during its production: growing, harvesting, processing, storing, shipping or preparing. Cross-contamination—the transfer of harmful organisms from one surface to another—is often the cause. This is especially troublesome for raw, ready-to-eat foods, such as salads or other produce.

Food poisoning can usually be prevented by keeping hands clean and preparing food in proper, hygienic and clean ways.
Food poisoning