Aspen Rodriguez

Nutrition

Research project #2

Foodborne Illnesses

For this project I went and researched some of the commonly

occurring foodborne illnesses. Some things I wanted to find out is where

they come from the signs and symptoms of them and how long it takes for

those to become prominent. The ones that Im going to talk about are E. coli

( also known as travelers diarrhea), hepatitis, salmonella, listeria, and

staphylococcal food poisoning. These are the five most common that occur in

the United States and I think that its important that we know how to prevent

them and how to know if we have them.

E. coli is also known as travelers diarrhea and this common when

traveling to Third World countries or countries with Bad water. This is

because E. coli is caused by ingesting water or food that is contaminated

with human feces. E. coli is also associated with undercooked beef are any

type of cow byproduct. An easy way to remember this is that the col is

similar to how you spell cow. It can take one to three days for symptoms of

an E. coli infection to occur, and the the symptoms I will show up in that time

period are watery diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and some vomiting. This is

the bodies way trying to get rid of the infection. These symptoms can last as

little as three days and as much as seven if infected once, but if it you are
continuously ingesting the contaminated substance the new symptoms will

not go away. This is a problem because you can meet kind dehydrated and

the way most people six that is my drinking water and if your water is

contaminated, then it will become a bigger problem rather than solving it. A

serious problem with E. coli from cow products or raw fruits is that it can lead

to kidney failure especially in children four or younger. Younger children have

a harder time fighting off serious infections and most times parents dont

think its as big of a problem as it actually it is and so they dont get it taken

care of or checked out so their bodies keep fighting it off and eventually give

up.

As far as hepatitis goes the comment one associated with foodborne

illnesses is hepatitis A. hepatitis a can come from food that has been handled

by someone contaminated another common way is through Fish thats been

in contaminated water, and Rob produce in areas with contaminated or bad

water. This is also a problem travelers run into when traveling to Third World

countries this is because they often have bad water filtering systems and

little regulation to them. Hepatitis A has a long incubation period which is 28

days on average. Sense both the average thereve been people that have

seen signs as early as 15 days and has taken as long as 50 days. The

symptoms of this Im pretty severe but theyll likely linked with something

more common so it is often misdiagnosed. Some of the symptoms include

diarrhea, dark urine, jaundice and flulike symptoms ( which are like fevers, or

headaches, nausea, and often abdominal pain as well). This is a more

serious foodborne illness because of how long it lasts. Hey Kim last anywhere

from two weeks to three months and this time period is often spent on

medication and iVs in the hospital lessen the symptoms or at least the

severity of them.

The next one Im going to talk about is listeria. Listeria is less common

in the United States for often people come home and bring the disease here

with them. Listeria comes from unpasteurized dairy which we do have here

but it is better regulated then in European countries or third world countries.

It has been found in the United States in summer ready to eat deli meats,

but we usually do job of catching it before becomes a huge problem. It Is

prominently found in milk and soft cheeses made with unpasteurized milk

and that is right is so common and youre up because cheese is such a big

deal over there. Therere two different incubation period for this infection.

The one for her gastrointestinal symptoms is 9 to 48 hours, and for the

invasive disease symptoms it is 2 to 6 weeks. The amount of time that this

disease lasts it Is extremely variable because at has such different effects for

people in different stages of life. This can be fatal for the elderly and they

often have a harder time fighting it off, where as pregnant women husband

known to deliver prematurely or often can result in the Child being stillborn.

In the most people the symptoms are simple such as a fever, aching

muscles, and nausea or diarrhea. Most people confuse this with just the flu

unless they have been to a different country recently and this is a problem

because they can have more serious effects than just the flu.
 Salmonella is a very commonly known foodborne illness joke about

here in the United States because of how commonly known it is. Is not super

serious and is often just like a little easier version of getting the flu. The

crazy thing about salmonella is that it shows up almost immediately. 6 to 40

hours is the incubation period and then after that it lasts a few days to

possibly a week. Salmonella often comes from undercooked poultry and its

byproducts. This means that chicken and eggs are the most common culprits

of spreading this disease, but it also can be spread buy unpasteurized milk

and juice, contaminated cheese, and contaminated and raw fruits and

vegetables. This is because heat kills this bacteria and to get rid of it and

145F is enough to kill it off. The symptoms of this illness is simple and just

includes diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, and vomiting. Most people dont

even know they have some poisoning and when people say food poisoning

this is often what that persists of is salmonella poisoning.

The final foodborne and wasnt going to talk about is staphylococcal

food poisoning. This is a type of staph infection which is serious because of

the other problems it is linked to although staphylococcal food poisoning is

not a serious problem on its own. Staphylococcal sin poisoning comes from

foods that are not refrigerated properly such as meats, potato salad, egg

salad, and cream pastries. This is because staph infections and the bacteria

causing them comes from human mucus and if they are left out then it is

more likely the people will cough or sneeze on them. This is the most quickly

occurring foodborne illness as far as the showing of symptoms. Symptoms

can appear and as little as 1 to 6 hours and often last only 24 to 48 hours.

This is a sudden illness and often the sudden onset a severe nausea and

vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea and fever may be present. This is

common in the summer and often occurs when people are having picnics

and barbecues outside. That being said most people just think they have

some sort of heat stroke and go to the hospital to find out that their disease

from the food they were eating.

In conclusion, I think it is important to watch what were eating and

watch how it is prepared and stored, not only when we are cooking but In

restaurants too.

Source:

https://www.fda.gov/food/foodborneillnesscontaminants/foodborneillnessesne

edtoknow/default.htm