Is food poisoning chronic? Learn about its Risk Factors

Overview

Food Poisoning, also known as “foodborne illness”. This illness refers to specific health hazards associated with gastrointestinal disturbance from consuming contaminated food.

Contaminated food includes deleterious or potentially harmful substances of chemicals (like heavy metals) and biological microbes (like bacteria, moulds, viruses, and prions/parasites or their toxins).

Its symptoms appear within hours after consumption. Some people tackle it with home remedies, and some needs to see a doctor. Food poisoning or foodborne diseases are often used synonymously with “food toxicology”.

Mild Symptoms of food poisoning

Its symptoms vary from person to person’s resistant ability and also on the substance you consumed or the germ you swallowed. It can last from 30 minutes to 8 weeks. In several cases, without any treatment, it cures in 1 week. Its most common symptoms are;

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Fever
• Stomach pain (abdominal pain)

It can take days to show symptoms of food poisoning, but if you feel nausea or Vomiting, drink plenty of liquids so your body resists severe dehydration.

Time to see a doctor after food poisoning?

It’s better to go to the hospital when you find severe symptoms like

• Diarrhoea containing blood or lasts for more than three days.
• Fever includes temperatures more than 102°F (38.88°C)
• Recurrent Vomiting (cause severe dehydration)
• Stomach or abdominal pain
• Loss of appetite
• Pruritus muscle

Causes of food poisoning

There are several causes found for every infected person from contaminated food; these are

Viruses

Viral gastroenteritis (inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract) is also known as stomach flu. Viral gastroenteritis is caused by;

• Rotavirus: common in children; babies should vaccinate against it.
• Norovirus: Adults are infected by this.
• Cytomegalovirus causes gastroenteritis, especially in people who have compromised immunity.
• Adenovirus: commonly caused by a respiratory illness.

Bacteria

Microorganisms that cause bacterial gastroenteritis are;

• Salmonella
• Campylobacter
• Shigella
• Escherichia coli (most common is serotype O157:H7)
• Clostridium difficile

A study in 2015-2019 by U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDS)’s Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration found that 75% of E. coli cases are in the meat of beef and leafy green vegetables.

Parasites

Parasitic gastroenteritis is more common in poor and middle-class families—annually, 450 million people are infected. There are two types single-cell protozoa and helminths.

Learn about parasitic infections in humans.

Food poisoning timeline

Several pathogens are involved in the disturbance of the gastrointestinal tract, all of which shows their symptoms at regular and different interval of time; these are

Travel Diarrhea

People travelling abroad can develop travellers’ diarrhoea. Consumption of contaminated food or drinking water with bacteria, viruses, and parasites during travelling can cause travelling diarrhoea.

Risk factors for food poisoning

Immunity

People with low immunity to fight against disease are more prone to infection caused by food poisoning.

Pregnant and infants

Other prone to infectious disease people are pregnant women, infants, and people over the age of 65.

Medication

People taking medicines like Corticosteroids and immunosuppressants are also sensitive.

Moreover, people whose diet consists of the following things are also susceptible to illness, these are;

• Meat, including beef, chicken
• Fruits and vegetables washed with contaminated water
• Fish (incredibly raw like Shushi) or other seafood
• Raw flour
• Eggs
• Dirty utensils or food equipment
• Poor hygiene while cooking
• Poor food handling practices

Prevention

You can prevent yourself by taking the following measures into account;

Cleanliness

Wash your hands, uncooked food, utensils, cutting board, and even knife.

Separate

Make sure to separate the cooking area from the other rush of the house. Don’t mix food items before washing. Like meat has contaminants that die at a specific temperature during cooking, if you put it with other veggies, then it can cause further contamination.

Cook

Cook all food items at their specific temperature range, so all contaminants are killed during cooking and become safe to eat.

community

The public health department outbreaks a kind of information to control food poisoning. Keep yourself updated with public announcements about health. If you acquired food poisoning, report it.

An Outlook for people with food poisoning issues

Many people recover in two to three days because they have developed mechanisms that fight against acute diseases. If your immunity level is not too strong and you have been facing food poisoning for many days, it’s time to call action because you need a doctor. Especially In Children, the most common cause is dehydration.

Sources

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154555

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154555#timeline

https://rabiahabib.com/screen-time-for-kids-7-tips-to-manage-its-use/

https://rabiahabib.com/anxiety-how-to-put-an-end-to-it/ ¹