Food poisoning is an illness that occurs after consuming food contaminated with microorganisms or toxic substances. In most cases, it resolves within a week. For infants, children, the elderly, and people with weakened immunity, it is not the poisoning itself that becomes dangerous, but dehydration.
Causes: Bacteria, Viruses, Toxins
Food poisonings are divided into three groups: microbiological origin, non-microbiological—poisoning by products containing toxic chemical compounds, including mushrooms—and those with unidentified causes. The most common pathogens are campylobacter, salmonella, E. coli bacteria, and norovirus. A separate role is played by staphylococcal toxins: they accumulate at room temperature in products that are not subjected to heat treatment before consumption—cream pastries, dairy products, pâtés, vinaigrettes.
In some cases, it is a food toxicoinfection—an acute condition caused by bacterial toxins that have already accumulated in the product. This syndrome is most often associated with enterotoxigenic strains of E. coli, streptococcus, Clostridium perfringens, Bacillus cereus, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Salmonellosis, shigellosis, and campylobacteriosis sometimes also begin with it.
Incubation and Symptoms
Symptoms usually appear several hours or several days after contaminated food, sometimes after several weeks. Typical manifestations: nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, elevated temperature, general malaise. In poisoning by poor-quality products, the onset is sudden: sharp abdominal pain, pale skin, rapid pulse, sometimes slightly elevated temperature. Food toxicoinfections are characterized by a short course with symptoms of acute gastroenteritis and water-electrolyte disturbances.
Dehydration: Signs
Dehydration means the body loses more fluid than it receives. Without treatment, the condition worsens and can become a serious problem. In adults and children, the signs are as follows:
- thirst, dry mouth, lips, and tongue;
- dark, strongly colored urine with a strong odor or less frequent urination;
- headache, dizziness, feeling lightheaded;
- fatigue, sunken eyes.
In infants, dehydration is visible differently: sunken fontanelle, sunken eyes, little or no tears when crying, fewer wet diapers, drowsiness or irritability.
Risk Groups
The most vulnerable to dehydration are infants, children, and the elderly. The risk increases with diabetes, after vomiting or diarrhea, against a background of high fever, heat, excessive alcohol consumption, intense sweating, and taking diuretics. A separate category is people who depend on others for access to drinks. Weakened immunity and chronic conditions increase the likelihood of complications.
When to Seek Medical Help
Emergency examination is required for persistent signs of dehydration, dizziness upon standing that does not pass, dark urine or less frequent urination, rapid breathing or rapid heartbeat, unusual drowsiness. In a child—absence of tears, sunken fontanelle, fewer wet diapers. Consult a doctor if diarrhea lasts more than 7 days, vomiting—more than 2 days, there is blood in the stool, vomiting prevents keeping fluids down, if you are concerned about an infant under 12 months or a child refuses breast or bottle during illness.
Immediately call 103 or 112 if, against a background of dehydration, the skin, lips, or tongue are blue, gray, pale, or mottled, the skin is cold to the touch, breathing is difficult or rapid, the person is confused, drowsy, or difficult to wake. An ambulance is also called for vomiting with blood or coffee-ground-colored fluid, green vomiting, sudden severe abdominal pain, stiff neck with pain from bright light.
Prevention: Where Infection Occurs
Infection occurs where food was insufficiently boiled or heated, stored under improper conditions—not frozen or not cooled, left for a long time at room temperature, prepared by a person with unwashed hands, or the product was consumed after its expiration date. For dishes without heat treatment, the critical storage times and conditions are crucial. A separate risk group is wild mushrooms: about 80 species potentially hazardous to health grow in Ukraine, and poisoning by the death cap is often fatal.
This material is for reference and does not replace a doctor's consultation.
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This content is for reference and does not replace a doctor's consultation. Medical disclaimer