Food poisoning is actually a common illness and affects over 76 million people. There are many causes for food poisoning and one of the main causes is salmonella which is a bacterial infection. Most food poisoning cases are harmless and minor while some can land someone in the hospital and can be deadly.
Some of the causes of food poisoning are bad preparation of the food, such as washing poultry before cooking. Another is poor sanitation in the work area as well as poor handling of the food. Washing your hands before coming into contact with the food is one of the most important things you need to do before handling any type of food.
Some of the symptoms related to food poisoning are: nausea, stomach cramps, vomiting, headache and fever. These symptoms can happen within 30 minutes or take its time and appear in a few days. Once it’s been determined you have food poisoning, it can take up to 48 hours to recover. These types of symptoms are considered viral infections.
Non-Viral infections include most of the same symptoms, but with milder conditions. Non-viral infections to food poisoning is the most common food poisoning in adults and is resulted from eating shellfish, veggies and contaminated water by feces. Food poisoning in children often called Rotavirus and has the symptoms of diarrhea that is thin and watery and often accompanied with a fever. It is obtained by fecal contamination of food and children play areas that are shared with other children. Symptoms can be moderate to severe.
The most common type of food poisoning, salmonella, usually happens when people eat wild poultry such as chicken, pigs or any other wild animal. Most salmonella cases happen when drinking contaminated milk that is unpasteurized or from poultry that is not cooked thoroughly. If food is prepared on a table where raw chicken has come in contact with, salmonella can occur. It is very uncommon for salmonella to cause death, but it could in someone who is very young or in someone who is elderly if their immune system is weak. Many people recover completely from having salmonella food poisoning, but in the rare cases that they don’t, a syndrome called Reiter’s syndrome, can become present which causes joint and eye pain and making urinating painful. Salmonella usually doesn’t require any doctor treatment unless you become dehydrated and can last from five to seven days.
Several things you can do to prevent getting salmonella food poisoning is to always wash your hands before, during and after coming into contact with raw meats. Always wash the surface where raw poultry and even eggs have touched. If you have recently had or have salmonella food poisoning, stay away from preparing food as this can cause others to get the salmonella food poisoning. Always make sure that any poultry or meats that are cooked are cooked completely and are not raw. Cook the meats at the required temperature to prevent any salmonella food poisoning from occurring.
