Food Poisoning - Prevent & Recognize Food Poisoning, Food Borne Illness Hazards

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Food Poisoning / Food Borne Illness and Chronic Illness & Disorders

New Research Links Food Poisoning Infections Acquired Years Earlier to Chronic Diseases

Last Updated: July 27, 2010

Published: December 01, 2008 by Michael Doom, REHS

 

Researchers into food safety and food poisoning infections are starting to observe a previously unknown and unforeseen link between a severe acute (short and / or rapid onset of symptoms) food poisoning infection and a strong likeness of developing chronic (a disease that is long-lasting or recurrent) disorders or symptoms later in life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chronic disorders can even develop in patients years after their case of food poisoning.

“It’s a dirty little secret of food poisoning,” says Lauren Neergaard of Yahoo News. “E. coli and certain other foodborne illnesses can sometimes trigger serious health problems months or years after patients survived that initial bout. Scientists only now are unraveling a legacy that has largely gone unnoticed.”

“Folks often assume once you’re over the acute illness, that’s it, you’re back to normal and that’s the end of it,” said Dr. Robert Tauxe of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The long-term consequences are an important but relatively poorly documented, poorly studied area of foodborne illness.”

A consumer advocacy group STOP (Safe Tables Our Priority) is beginning the first national registry of food-poisoning survivors with long-term health problems — people willing to share their medical histories with scientists in hopes of boosting much needed research.

Here are the most common chronic disorders which can result from food poisoning:

  • Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) – Can result in children under the age of 10 from exposure and symptoms of E. coli O157:H7 infection. Its symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, lethargy, fatigue, irritability and pallor. HUS can cause kidney failure and is fatal in three to five percent of all cases. Researchers at the University of Utah found that 10 percent of children diagnosed with E. coli go on to develop HUS. If you have a child with these symptoms, contact your doctor immediately.

  • Gullian-Barre Syndrome – - Autoimmune disease or disorder destroying nerve function leading to weakness and paralysis. Onset within hours or up to 3-4 weeks. Can start out by weakness affecting the lower limbs first, and then rapidly moving up the body. People generally notice weakness in their legs, manifesting as "rubbery legs" or legs that tend to buckle. Studies have shown that about 1 in 1,000 sufferers of Campylobacter jejuni, develop Gullian-Barre Syndrome a month or so after infection

  • Reactive Arthritis (also known as Reiter's syndrome) – It causes joint pain, eye inflammation, sometimes painful urination, and can lead to chronic arthritis. Certain strains of Salmonella, Shigella and Yersinia bacteria, far more common abroad than in the U.S., trigger this reactive arthritis, too, Tauxe says.

Other more immediate secondary disorders and complications from food poisoning include:

  • Spontaneous Abortion and Death - Listeria and Clostridium botulinum have been linked.
  • Inflammatory bowel disease – Describes any type of digestive condition caused by bowel inflammation.
  • Septicemia - A systemic inflammatory response to an infection. Listeriosis and Vibrio vulnificus are two food borne illnesses related causes.

As technology improves and research continues to uncover the sources of disorders, illnesses, and diseases resulting from food poisoning infections acquired years earlier in one’s life, we are forced to face the facts that food poisoning is much more dangerous than previously believed.

It is therefore essential and in everyone’s best interest, whether you are a homemaker who shops and prepares most meals at home, or the everyday consumer, restaurant or meat market worker/server/manager etc., to know the basics on How To Prevent and Recognize Food Poisoning Hazards in all situations.

REFERENCES

1. “Food poisoning victims suffer from chronic symptoms long after acute infection is gone” Author: Amy Proal http://bacteriality.com/2008/02/02/ecol/

2. Siegler, R. L., Pavia, A. T., Christofferson, R. D., & Milligan, M. K. (1994). A 20-year population-based study of postdiarrheal hemolytic uremic syndrome in Utah. Pediatrics, 94(1), 35-40.

About the Author

Michael Doom worked as a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) for Los Angeles County for more than 21 years.  For most of these years he worked as a field inspector and Supervising Senior REHS in the retail food inspection programs. His experience within Los Angeles County has taken him to some of the smallest “mom and pop” restaurants and markets in the poorest areas of south Los Angeles, as well as to the largest facilities and affluent areas on the west side. He has literally conducted thousands of inspections of numerous types of restaurants, food markets, warehouses, events, and more; educated hundreds, if not more than a thousand, food facility owners, managers and employees on food sanitation and food safety , and how to prevent food poisoning hazards; has supervised more than 50 field inspectors that were responsible for an inventory of food facilities larger than many U.S. states.

Mr. Doom has a B.S. in Biology from Loyola Marymount University, an REHS with the state of California, holds a Project Management Professional (PMP®) credential from the Project Management Institute, and a Master's Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University.  Mr. Doom continuously works to expand his knowledge and experience in the subject of food safety, sanitation and food poisoning prevention.

He can be reached at Mike@foodpoisoningprevention.com