Get advice on healthy eating, nutrition, and weight loss from expert dietitian Tara Gidus.See all posts »
A Bad Bug Got Me
I was all set to have an enjoyable vacation away from home this past weekend and I spend the entire weekend on the bed in the hotel room instead. We went out to dinner on Thursday night (restaurant to remain nameless) and within a few hours I was suffering from what I can only conclude was a bad case of food poisoning. What a way to ruin a vacation!
This experience made me look into food poisoning again and I thought I would share a few interesting tidbits.
- The correct term for food poisoning is actually foodborne illness.
- There over 250 organisms that can cause foodborne illness (bacteria, parasites, and viruses).
- It has nothing to do with the flu (influenza virus). In fact, most people who think they have the "24 hour flu" actually have food poisoning.
- 76 million illnesses in the US are caused by foodborne illness (5,000 deaths).
- You can get symptoms within hours up to days later. Most people get symptoms within the first 12 hours. The incubation period depends on the bug.
- The illness usually runs it's course in 24-48 hours, but for some can last weeks.
- The main symptoms are diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, and vomiting.
- Salmonella is scary because it can actually enter the bloodstream and cause life-threatening infections.
- To properly diagnose a foodborne illness laboratory tests need to be performed. However it is rare that they actually can identify them because the tests required at quite specialized and expensive and not routine.
- Most people do not seek medical attention so they are not tested and the illnesses go undiagnosed.
- The main treatment is simply rehydrating with fluids and electrolytes.
Consult your doctor is you have the following:
- Fever above 101.5 if measured orally
- Blood in the stool
- Prolonged vomiting that prevents liquids from staying down (usually more than 24 hours)
- Signs of dehydration (decreased urination, dry mouth and throat, dizzy)
- Diarrhea lasting more than 3 days
- When in doubt, go get checked out!