Food poisoning, bacterial

Salmonella typhi is the causal organism of typhoid fever, Sal. paratyphi causes paratyphoid fever, whilst Sal. typhimurium, Sal. enteritidis and very many other closely related organisms are a cause of bacterial food poisoning. 

There is another aspect of this entire debate relative to food safety that I have not yet addressed and, in fact, is one where biotechnology has great potential. There is consensus among food safety professionals that 98% of all real foodborne illnesses are related to bacterial food poisoning. There are numerous causes of such diseases that have proven very difficult to eliminate. These include meat and produce contamination with bacteria such as Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Eschericia coli and Clostridia botulinum. These organisms and the diseases they cause have killed more people in the United... 

The common bacterial food poisons are summarized in Table B-3. 

Each year in the United States, approximately 76 million food-borne illnesses occur, leading to 325,000 hospitalizations and over 5000 deaths.40 A number of bacterial and viral pathogens that have been discussed previously in this chapter (e.g., Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, E. coli, and noroviruses) can cause food poisoning. Other bacteria that can cause foodborne illness include Staphylococcus aureus, C. perfringens, C. botu-linum, and Bacillus cereus (Table 73-5). Food poisoning should be suspected if at least two individuals present with similar symptoms after the ingestion of a common food in the prior 72 hours. 

Triclosan (10.279) kills a wide range of bacteria that cause food poisoning, dysentery, cholera, pneumonia, tetanus, meningitis, tuberculosis and sore throats. It also prevents the development of bacterially related odours and kills the yeasts responsible for Candida ulcers... 

In general, the clinical presentation of the human diseases associated with the ingestion of marine seafood toxins is similar to that of any other food poisoning disease. However, a number of clinical issues make these diseases particularly difficult to diagnose and treat. For example, the neurotoxic syndromes associated with CFP, PSP, and NSP represent points along a continuum of disease severity rather than clinically exclusive diseases. Even if fish or other seafood is the suspected source of a disease outbreak, diarrhea associated with the outbreak could be misdiagnosed as originating from bacterial rather than from phycotoxin contamination. 

Poisonous Fishes. Defined as fishes which, when ingested, cause a biotoxication in humans due to a toxic substance present in the fish. Fishes that may become accidentally contaminated by bacterial food pathogens are not included. 

Amine build-up in fish muscle usually results from decarboxylation of amino acids in the muscle by enzymes of bacterial origin. This review will present information on the activity of bacterial decarboxylases and the formation of amines in fish. Mechanisms of decarboxylase action and production of bacterial decarboxylases in fish muscle are discussed. Emphasis is placed upon studies dealing with formation of histidine decarboxylase and histamine. Histamine, because of its involvement in Scombroid food poisoning, has been extensively studied with regard to its formation in fish and fishery products. 

The spectrum of gastrointestinal tract infections (GTI) cover a wide spectrum from asymptomatic Helicobacter pylori gastritis to self-limiting viral gastroenteritis to food poisoning to bacterial enterocolitis to antibiotic-associated Clostridium difficile colitis to typhoid fever with sepsis and multi-organ failure. 

Antimicrobials have a limited role in treatment of diarrhoea because only a small percentage of diarrhoeas are caused by bacterial infection. Majority of cases are due to non infective causes. Rota virus and food poisoning in which antimicrobial therapy has no role. 

Bacterial, parasitic, and viral infections Food poisoning... 

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