...and I ate this burrito and I think I got food poisoning…
That sucks, how long was the incubation period?
*confused* what??
Hey everyone, Trace here for DNews!
My buddy Jared who runs the DNews social media pages got food poisoning today, so we thought
we'd pull back the curtain on foodborne illness.
People CALL it food poisoning, but the medical community call it foodborne illness, which
makes sense.
You're not being poisoned by food, but infected by something that's living on the food.
Commonly, food poisoning is caused by bacteria, viruses, molds, toxins, parasites or allergens.
They range from the fairly well known, E. Coli and Salmonella to the far less known
campylobacter, toxoplasma, listeria and clostridium perfringens (clostridEum per-fringe-ens).
According to the FDA, most foodborne illnesses go away on their own and don't have lasting
effects -- but there are those, like E. Coli O157:H7 which can cause kidney failure and
death if not treated properly.
Not all e.coli is bad, by the way.
Some e.coli is part of your natural gut bacteria!
A number of things can result in food being "poisoned" or infected.
Most often, according to the Mayo Clinic, food poisoning comes from food that’s mishandled
or not cooked properly.
Maybe it's left under the warmer too long, not refrigerated properly, handled by a person
who didn't wash their hands, or touched a surface that wasn't recently cleaned.
Every contaminant has an ideal condition, and they vary from bacteria to virus.
And though you might be thinking, YES!
I was at that place around the corner and TOTALLY got it from there, you might be wrong.
Some of these foodborne illnesses can strike days or weeks after exposure because it takes
a while for the organism to replicate in your body and strike -- this is the incubation
period.
The most common pathogens, C. Perfringens, Salmonella and the Norovirus have short incubation
periods ranging from 6-72 hours.
All three cause diarrhea, but while salmonella and norovirus ALSO cause vomiting, c. perfringens
doesn't!
E.coli and campylobacter incubate for several days before striking and both result in severe
diarrhea containing blood, and vomiting.
Toxoplasma can incubate for weeks and produce no symptoms at all, and listeria can live
in your body from three to SEVENTY DAYS before showing flu-like symptoms!
You could eat something two weeks before Halloween and not feel it til Christmas!
Some cases of food poisoning or food borne illness are even mistaken for the flu, because
people can't remember when they ate at that dodgy deli.
And again, most of the time, you'll just get better on your own, thanks to the immune system.
But you won't feel awesome.
These diseases cause diarrhea because they're inhibiting your body from absorbing nutrients
and water OR they're causing MORE water to be added into the bowel.
This means your body has to pass all that stuff out of your digestive system, and in
a hurry.
If you're nerds, like us, you can look up your symptoms on foodsafety.gov
and know what you got, how long you've had it, and what probably caused it!
It's, like, really nerdy.
Also -- drink lots of water, but NOT caffeine or dairy because your stomach is already irritated,
those will make it worse.
Make sure you consume some broth or electrolyte drink to keep some nutrients flowing too.
And, speaking of flow, DON'T try and stop the flow out yer butt with anti-diarrhea meds.
You're body's doing it on purpose, you'll just get in the way, literally.
If you see blood, call a doctor.
When was the last time you got food poisoning?
Where'd you get it?
Tell us down below in the comments and be sure you subscribe for more DNews.
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