Food borne illness, food borne disease.

Food poisoning can occur due to improper preparation, handling and/or storage of food. Contamination can occur at any stage during production, growing, harvesting, processing, storing, shipping or preparing.

Adequate hygiene practices before, during and after the preparation of foods decrease the chances of food contamination. Washing hands repeatedly during food preparation is supposed to be important in order to reduce the chances of food contamination.
Keeping the food at room temperature for longer time can cause growth of micro-organisms in it, which may cause food borne illnesses after ingestion.

Food poisoning can also be due to chemicals present in food. They may be insecticides, pesticides, medicines or some foods are naturally poisonous, for example reef fish and poisonous mushrooms.

The most common microbes causing food poisoning are E coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium perfringens, Salmonella and Rotavirus etc.

There may be sporadic cases of food poisoning or there may be an outbreak of food poisoning due to consumption of same contaminated food by many people.

It is more prevalent in high risk group like babies, young children, pregnant women and the unborn child, elderly people, sick people and people with impaired or weak immune system.

Symptoms of food poisoning may appear after few hours or couple of days after consumption of the contaminated food. Most of the time food poisoning symptoms are nausea, vomiting, fever, abdominal pain, watery diarrhea, easy fatigability.

Food poisoning is diagnosed based on patient history, physical examination, detailed history of food consumption.

Diagnostic tests include blood tests & culture, stool culture or the leftover food culture etc.

Normally no treatment is required and the disease gets cured of its own in one or two days. Consumption of lots of fluids is recommended to prevent dehydration because of loss of fluids due to diarrhea and vomiting. Electrolyte solution should be given to ensure prevention of electrolyte imbalance. Avoiding solid food and dairy products till the diarrhea stops is recommended.

If it is not possible to give fluids orally they may be given intravenously. Sometimes hospitalization is required.

Antibiotics may be given if it is a case of bacterial food poisoning and when symptoms are severe.

Normally the outcome of a bout of food poisoning is excellent and there is complete recovery.

Dehydration is the most common complication of food poisoning. Some less common but more serious complications are:-

If the causative agent is listeria monoytogens, bacteria, it may lead to miscarriages, still births, neurological damage and potentially fatal infection in the baby.

Certain E coli strains can cause a condition called hemolytic uremic syndrome leading to kidney failure.

If there is prolonged diarrhea, diarrhea with fever or blood in stool then it is better to get medical help immediately.

A strict regulation for the marketed food products is important in order to prevent food poisoning from commercially available food products. Hygienic preparation, handling and storage of food can prevent food poisoning. Special care must be taken about the food especially while traveling, handling foods for babies.