by Ira Herbold

Created on: September 20, 2008

The term food poisoning' means any condition in which food causes a toxic reaction. This can be a result of a natural toxin in the food, a toxin acquired by the food in the course of nature (for example, a fish eating a toxic substance), spoilage leading to bacterial contamination of the food, or contamination of the food during agricultural processing (Bender, 2005).

In this article I will cover some of the most common and some more uncommon illnesses obtained by eating contaminated foods. I will discuss the causes of the illnesses, the symptoms and, where applicable, treatment and preventative measures.

I will begin with one of the most common food borne illnesses; salmonellosis, more commonly known by the bacteria that causes the disease, salmonella (Anderson, 1998).
Salmonellosis is contracted by eating foods contaminated with the salmonella, salmonella typhi and salmonella paratyphi bacterias, specifically milk, custard, egg dishes, salad dressings, sandwich fillings and polluted shellfish (Crisp & Taylor, 2001).
The bacteria live in the intestines of humans and animals and are shed through faeces (The Mayo Clinic, 2008)
Symptoms generally appear between 6 and 48 hours after eating the contaminated product (Anderson,1998). Symptoms include sharp abdominal pain (which may resemble acute appendicitis); fever; bloody, watery diarrhoea; nausea, vomiting, cramps. Dehydration because of the diarrhoea may occur. These symptoms can persist for up to two weeks (Crisp & Taylor, 2001, Anderson,1998), but generally stop after four to seven days (The Mayo Clinic, 2008).
Adequate cooking of food, proper refrigeration and thorough hand washing may help prevent contraction of salmonellosis (Anderson, 1998).
There is no reliable treatment for salmonellosis, and generally the goal of treatment is to replace lost fluids as more severe cases can lead to dehydration and malnutrition. If the infection travels out of the intestines, antibiotics are often prescribed to help destroy or impair the growth of the Salmonella bacteria. Unfortunately, because of the large percentage of cases treated with antibiotics, there have been reports of antibiotic resistant strains of Salmonella (The Mayo Clinic, 2008).

Botulism is a very rare and severe food borne illness, being fatal in two thirds of cases (Crisp & Taylor, 2001, Anderson, 1998.). Clostridium botulinum, the causing bacteria, grows in many meats (mainly smoked and salted meats, ham, sausage and shellfish) and vegetables. The

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