Exactly what are food-borne illnesses? 

 

More than 200 distinct pathologic conditions can be included under this heading. This excludes individual allergic reactions to food, and other individual conditions with an inherited condition such a celiac disease (where wheat, rye, and barley must be avoided), or phenylketonuria. The numbers of serotypes is far greater. Salmonella enteric alone has more than 2,000 serotypes.

 

Foodborne illnesses can be initially divided into:

• bacterial infections such as salmonellosis or campylobacteriosis,

• viral infections such as with norovirus, or hepatitis A

• parasitic infections, such as from Trichinella or Toxoplasma

• bacterial toxins such as from Bacillus cereus or Staphylococcus aureus

• fungal toxins such as aflatoxin or patulin

 

Each has its distinctive route of entry through food, pathology, signs and symptoms, target tissues, control measures, treatments, onset time, infectivity potential, diagnostic and laboratory tests, and potential for complications/sequalae, and even death.

 

The onset time can vary from minutes (for B. cereus -emetic type- toxicosis) to days, or weeks (for hepatitis A viral infection an average 30 days onset time, or listeriosis which can extend from 15 to 40 days onset time.)     Frequently someone with a foodborne illness will be convinced that the last food they ate was the cause. You MAY be correct, but don't count on it simply because you recognize the last meal in your emesis (vomit). Salmonella bacteria, for example usually affects you (vomiting and diarrhoea) between 24 and 36 hours after eating, - enough time to have had 2 or 3 meals before the symptoms began! 

 

Many are barely noticeable, mild, and self-limiting, whereas others can have a high risk of death to the infants or elderly (e.g., listeriosis, salmonellosis, shigellosis), or if the correct anti-toxin cannot be administered in time (botulism).  Although diarrhoea and vomiting are commonly associated with foodborne illnesses, some of these can can cause constipation (typhoid fever), haemorrhagic diarrhoea (Campylobacter), arthritis (Salmonella bacteremia), headache (especially the viruses), double vision and paralysis (botulism), and permanent kidney damage (enterohaemorrhagic Shiga-toxin producing E. coli)

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QUESTION:   How can I deliberately give myself a food-borne illness?

(I was recently asked this question, although I cannot imagine why any sane person would need to carry out this mission!).

 

Believe it or not, scientists have in the past voluntarily acquired foodborne diseases to study the process. (At least they had a reason.)
For you, the method is simple. Just do what thousands of food handlers in restaurants and home kitchens do every month that results in their customers, patrons, or family members developing symptoms and suffering unpleasant illness. Here are six assorted choices:
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    1. Allow a little bloody "drippage" from raw poultry to fall into the bowl of potato salad in the 'fridge, and next day let the potato salad sit around for a few hours at room temperature. (Good chance of Salmonellosis, or even Campylobacteriosis - that's the one with the bloody diarrhea)

    2. Pick your nose and sneeze while slicing some ham, then keep the ham at room temperature overnight. (Excellent chance of Staphylococcal toxicosis: cramps and vomiting)

     3. UNDERcook your hamburger patty just to "rare" and eat several just to make sure! (Result: enterohemorrhagic E. coli infection; and you might hit the jackpot with hemolytic uremic syndrome thrown in for the lucky 15%. This is exactly what happened at a major hamburger chain in 1981)

    4. Buy lots of "organically-grown" spinach, but don't bother too much with washing it before eating it raw in a salad, and sprinkle some raw bean sprouts on the top. (More E.coli, anyone?)

    5. Find a local purveyor of unpasteurized milk and drink some each day (good chance of an enteric upset - (E. coli, Brucellosis, Salmonellosis, Campylobacteriosis, or many others) 

    6. Find someone who has hepatitis A virus infection and ask him to prepare your sandwiches for a week, and tell him its ok NOT to wash his hands after using the washroom. (Then buy extra toilet paper, and set your watch for 25-35 days time!)

    7. Keep buying and swallowing those raw oysters.  The incidence of illness by Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Norovirus (both foodborne infections) has been increasing in recent years.

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I could add another 30 or 40 more. These are NOT far-fetched disgusting fictional scenarios; - they are very REAL disgusting scenarios that are played out every day across the country and around the globe in hotels, hamburger joints, and family restaurants. Good luck- oh and check your health plan and life insurance first

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QUESTION:  What exactly is E. coli and where does it come from?

Escherichia coli is a vast family of bacteria, most of which are harmless and contribute to your healthy microbial population.  For decades they were useful a "indicator organisms", revealing when fecal contamination (by animals or human) had taken place in well water for example.  Then toward the end of the 1970s we began to find more dangerous strains that were capable of causing gastrointestinal illness, and in a percentage of cases (especially among children), a complication called haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which results in kidney damage, often permanent.

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The original type is O157:H7, sometimes called a "Shiga-toxin" E. coli, ("STEC") but since then, several other dangerous strains have been isolated and studies.

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The source is a "carrier" animal - often bovine - and if we look hard enough, we usually find cattle at the source of the outbreak.  This can be: 

• Beef itself, contaminated from feces, mud in the slaughterhouse, and not properly cooked, for example, undercooked "rare" hamburger patties. (ALWAYS have burgers cooked to at least 72 C or 162 F ) 

• Vegetables (e.g. lettuce) grown near cattle or irrigated with water contaminated by cattle feces, 

• Drinking water that had contained animal run-off, and not properly chlorinated. 

• Unpasteurized milk frequently carries E. coli from the milking process, and almost all milk-borne E. coli infections are commonly raced to drinking raw milk. 

• Apple juice, has proved an interesting vehicle, not apparently connected to cattle, except that a couple of large outbreaks have been traced to windfall apples contaminated on the ground by cattle which are allowed to wander through the orchard.  The juice is then sold without being pasteurized.      ​

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Prevention:   Fortunately, this bacterium does not produce toxins in the food, and is easily destroyed above 72 degrees C (162 F), so cooking foods above those temperatures will keep them safe.  Solid pieces of meat are safe as long as all sides are seared at high temperature; the centre can be rare and safe, provided it hasn't been "tenderized" by having needle probes push bacteria into the middle of the meat!​​​​

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