8/8/2019 Food Poisioning

1/5

Food poisoning

What is it?It's estimated there are more than 9 million cases of gastroenteritis each year in England. For an increasingnumber of people, it's due to food poisoning, somethingthat's preventable.Gastroenteritis describes symptoms affecting digestion,such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pain.Food poisoning is the type of gastroenteritis caused by

eating or drinking something contaminated with micro-organisms or germs, or by toxic substances produced bythese germs.These illnesses are often accompanied by fever, muscle

aches, shivering and feeling exhausted.

8/8/2019 Food Poisioning

2/5

What causes it?M icro-organisms enter the body in one of two ways:In the food - the food isn't cooked thoroughly, so themicro-organisms aren't killed off, often the case withbarbecued food.On the food - the person preparing the food doesn'twash their hands before handling the food, for example.Campylobacter infection is the most common cause of food poisoning seen by GPs. It likes to live in milk andpoultry.Other common causes include salmonella, listeria,shigella and clostridia. Some take a few hours to causesymptoms, others a few days. Serious infections withE.coli are, fortunately, uncommon.

8/8/2019 Food Poisioning

3/5

8/8/2019 Food Poisioning

4/5

What's the treatment?

M ost infections last 24 to 48 hours, during which time fluid is oftenlost from vomiting and diarrhoea. To prevent dehydration, drinkplenty of cooled boiled water and use rehydration powders if thesymptoms continue.

Sometimes antibiotic treatment is necessary; this can bedetermined by testing for the micro-organism responsible.It's especially important anyone whose work involves handling orpreparing food stays away from work while they have symptoms toavoid infecting others. They must also notify, and seek advice from,their local environmental health department.

If someone suspects that food bought from, or eaten in, a specificshop, takeaway or restaurant is responsible, they should alsoinform their local environmental health department, so foodhygiene standards can be investigated.

8/8/2019 Food Poisioning

5/5

ThankThankYouYou