Food Poisoning And Safe Food Handling: What Happens

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What Happens

You may become ill with food poisoning after you eat food that contains bacteria, viruses, or other harmful organisms. Most cases of food poisoning follow the same general course.

After you eat a contaminated food, there is an hours-to-days delay before you notice symptoms. The contaminating organism passes through the stomach into the intestine, attaches to the intestinal walls, and begins to multiply. Some organisms stay in the intestine, some produce a toxin that is absorbed into the bloodstream, and others directly invade body tissues. Your symptoms depend greatly on the type of organism that has infected you.

Different organisms cause similar symptoms, especially diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps. Diarrhea and vomiting are a normal response as the body tries to rid itself of harmful organisms. Unless the illness is part of a recognized outbreak, it is difficult to identify the infecting organism and laboratory tests are usually not done.

In most cases, you recover in a few days to a week as toxins are flushed from your system. You may feel weak for several days after other symptoms go away.

Most of the time food poisoning is mild and passes in a few days. However, the symptoms and course of some types of food poisoning may be more severe.

• Clostridium botulinum (botulism) produces toxins that paralyze the nerves and the muscles. Botulism symptoms usually begin 18 to 36 hours after eating contaminated foods and include weakness and double vision. Paralysis progresses from the head to the rest of the body. Intensive care, including mechanical ventilation, is needed to support failing breathing. Because of aggressive medical care and the availability of antitoxin, most people who are infected with botulism live. Recovery may take months, and people are often weak and tire easily for as long as a year after the initial disease.
• Toxoplasmosis often has no symptoms, or the symptoms are flu-like. You may have swollen lymph glands or muscle aches and pains that last for a few days to several weeks. Toxoplasmosis is dangerous to a pregnant woman and her fetus. For more information, see the topic Toxoplasmosis During Pregnancy.
• Salmonellosis may last more than a week and require hospitalization.
• Listeriosis symptoms include fever, muscle aches, and sometimes nausea or diarrhea. If the infection spreads to the brain and nervous system, then symptoms such as headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, or convulsions can occur. A pregnant woman may experience only a mild, flu-like illness. Infections during pregnancy can lead to premature delivery, serious infection of the newborn, or even stillbirth.

Rarely, food poisoning can result in kidney or joint damage.²

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Last updated:	March 15, 2007
Author:	Monica Rhodes
Reviewed By:	Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine, Christine Hahn, MD - Epidemiology
Editors:	Kathleen M. Ariss, MS, Pat Truman