Bacteria are the most microscopic organisms on earth, comprising a single cell. They exist in a thousand different forms and often cause bacterial and viral infections in the air. While a large number of bacteria strains are generally harmless, a few can result in illnesses.
Foodborne infections remain an ever-present threat due to the mishandling and improper care of food products. Every year, there are millions of cases in South Africa of food poisoning. For instance, there was an outbreak of listeriosis in 2017-2018, where at least 1,060 South Africans fell ill with listeria monocytogenes food poisoning.
Bacteria-caused food poisoning is the most common, but surprisingly, barely twenty or fewer bacteria types out of the thousands cause it. More than 90% of cases of food poisoning occur yearly because of E-coli, bacillus cereus, vibrio parahaemolyticus, listeria monocytogenes, salmonella, staphylococcus aureus and more.
Improper storage, cleaning, poor hygiene practices, unclean utensils, and preparation lead to contamination of cooked and raw foods. This is what causes the problematic bacteria to grow.
Symptoms of food poisoning include upset stomach, diarrhoea and vomiting. Symptoms generally start within a few hours or several days of eating contaminated food. Most people suffer from mild illness and get well without treatment. Additional symptoms of food poisoning are:
Less often food poisoning impacts the nervous system and can cause severe disease. Symptoms of severe disease include:
If you are suffering from severe food poisoning, it is important to contact a healthcare provider.
Your healthcare provider may conduct one or more lab tests to determine the kind of bacterial disease you have developed. Those may include:
Vomiting and diarrhoea can quickly cause dehydration in infants and children. This can cause serious illness in infants, and you should contact your child’s healthcare provider right away.
The primary step in preventing food poisoning is to consider all foods as having the potential to create foodborne illnesses. The following are the primary rules for preventing the spread of bacterial infection:
Infants, the elderly, women who are pregnant and anyone with a compromised immune system are more susceptible to food-borne illness. These people should not consume raw fish, raw seafood, or raw meat type products.
The most common bacteria that cause food poisoning are:
The symptoms and severity of food poisoning vary depending on which bacteria has contaminated the food that was consumed. To prevent illness, follow food safety guidelines to clean, separate, cook, and chill.