Probably, every person at least once, but experienced all the "charms" of food poisoning. In the article, read all about what poisoning is.
What is food poisoning?
Food poisoning refers to a group of non-contagious diseases (not transmitted to other people), which are formed due to the consumption of a poor-quality product.
The following pathological conditions have similar symptoms:
- food allergy;
- alcohol poisoning;
- overeating and some others.
But they are not food poisoning.
Key signs of toxicosis
The main signs of body poisoning are as follows:
- Always an acute onset of the disease, accompanied by rapidly developing symptoms.
- Localization of pain.
- The direct link between poisoning and the food eaten.
- The course of the disease is fast with a favorable prognosis.
Acute poisoning
For food poisoning, it is precisely the sudden onset and vivid symptoms that are characteristic. Acute toxicoinfection is much easier and lasts relatively shortly, without complications, which, for example, can not be said about botulism. The incubation period of this disease can be a full day after the rod is in the human digestive system.
Signs of poisoning in the acute course of the disease can occur in the form of:
- sharp pain in the abdomen (colic);
- stool disorders (diarrhea);
- severe nausea, accompanied by vomiting.
The following signs of food poisoning are somewhat less common:
- headache;
- a sharp increase in temperature.
If the patient has indomitable and not bringing relief vomiting, a rapid increase in temperature to high levels, then urgent hospitalization of a person is necessary. In some cases, food poisoning with similar symptoms leads to death.
It is especially dangerous if such signs of poisoning appear in babies, pregnant women and the elderly. It is also dangerous for diabetics and hypertensive patients.
Poisoning: signs, symptoms
Now consider all the main signs, as well as the characteristic symptoms of food poisoning.
Vomiting accompanied by vomiting
It accompanies almost every case of the disease. It can occur both in the first hours and days after poisoning. Sometimes it may be absent.
Nausea and vomiting, which began at the very beginning of the disease, may indicate that the poisoning was caused by mushrooms, fish dishes, glutamate or food contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus.
It must be remembered that if vomiting does not stop during the day, then a mandatory consultation with a doctor is necessary.
Stool Disorder (diarrhea)
With mild poisoning, diarrhea may be absent. But it always accompanies an intestinal infection. If the disorder began immediately at the beginning of the disease, then most likely it is a matter of food poisoning. But when diarrhea begins after a couple of days, a likely cause in this case is a bacterial intestinal infection . It can be dysentery, cholera, salmonellosis and others.
Severe abdominal pain
Such painful sensations begin shortly before the onset of diarrhea and vomiting. Along with the worsening of the condition, pain intensifies. As a rule, another attack ends in going to the toilet.
Heat
Body temperature rises sharply to high levels and is accompanied by chills, weakness.
Itching, redness of the skin
A typical symptom of poisoning with chemicals, in particular various food additives. They can also talk about the onset of an allergic attack.
These are the main signs of acute poisoning.
Clinical features of food poisoning, depending on the pathogen
Signs of food poisoning are directly related to the type of pathogen toxicosis:
Salmonellosis
The disease is manifested by severe pain and vomiting. The incubation period can last up to a day. That is why the symptoms will grow quite slowly. The disease is characterized by a high temperature, as well as the presence of mucus and blood in the stool.
Botulism
The first signs of food poisoning and botulism are severe headache, weakness, paralysis, cramping, and a breakdown of the central nervous system.
Staphylococcus
Symptoms appear approximately 40 minutes after contaminated food enters the stomach. In this case, indomitable vomiting is observed. The temperature almost never rises above 37.5 degrees. Staphylococcal poisoning is characterized by severe weakness, low blood pressure and the absence of diarrhea.
What could cause poisoning?
What signs of food poisoning are, you already know. It's time to get acquainted with the list of products that can cause the development of the disease.
Food poisoning occurs due to non-compliance with the cooking technology, the use of dirty dishes or expired products. Here is an unofficial rating of the most dangerous products in this sense:
- Milk and meat are undoubted leaders. Especially often sources of infection are dairy products that have undergone insufficiently high-quality heat treatment. This is kefir, yogurt, fermented baked milk, etc. Purchased from an unverified seller’s meat can also be dangerous.
- The second place is traditionally occupied by mushrooms. Mushroom poisoning is most common in the autumn, when the gifts of the forest begin to fall on our table.
- Egg and fish are another source of toxic infection. Fish meat may contain various toxins or “become a home” for numerous microorganisms. The egg is the main source of salmonellosis.
- Poor or poorly washed fruits and vegetables. These are key figures in summer food poisoning.
- Canned food. They are the source of botulism. The most severe food poisoning.
- Seafood. Such fashionable mussels, shellfish and oysters can cause severe poisoning.
Fish poisoning
Fish is one of the sources of food poisoning. If the process of preparation or storage took place without observing the prescribed sanitary standards, then active reproduction of microbes begins in fish meat . It is the waste of their life (toxins) that cause severe poisoning. Signs of food poisoning in this case are no different from what we examined a little earlier.
However, fish products can cause special toxic infections, the symptoms of which are significantly different from ordinary poisoning.
Allergic poisoning
The most common fish poisoning. Symptoms may be as follows:
- redness of the skin of the face, neck, and also the entire upper body;
- severe skin itching;
- feeling of cold;
- nausea accompanied by vomiting;
- pain localized in the upper abdomen;
- diarrhea.
The first signs of fish poisoning, such as facial swelling, difficulty swallowing, dizziness, are much less common. Symptoms are manifested very quickly, literally within 15 minutes, a maximum of one hour.
Tropical fish meat poisoning
Exotic fish, whose residence is the warm tropical waters of coral reefs, are able to accumulate toxic substances produced by algae in their meat. Therefore, improperly prepared meat can cause severe food poisoning. Especially often, the cause of the development of toxicoinfection is the ciguater toxin.
The disease begins with nausea, severe diarrhea and pain. Symptoms last no more than a day. But after three days a neurological disorder begins in a sick person. In particular, they perceive cold as warmth, severe itching of the skin, constant dizziness and impaired gait. In this state, a person can stay for months.
Some tropical fish "give" a person a huge amount of hallucinogens. Hallucinogenic fish poisoning, the signs of which appear literally in a few minutes, disappears in a few hours. But during the entire period of action of toxins, a person raves, his
coordination of movements is disturbed
, and he must be constantly monitored.
Puffer fish meat poisoning
Poisoning with this fish is extremely dangerous and can even lead to death. The toxic substance in this case is tetrodotoxin - the strongest natural poison.
Signs of acute poisoning in this case will be as follows:
- weakness present throughout the body;
- there is a violation of coordination of movement;
- a person has cramps;
- heart rhythm is disturbed (bradycardia develops);
- loss of consciousness.
Disease duration
It all depends on the type of poisoning, as well as the severity of the symptoms. But the brighter the disease manifests itself in the beginning, the faster it ends.
Light food poisoning lasts no more than three days. But in more complex cases, when indomitable vomiting and diarrhea develop, accompanied by a high fever, a person needs hospitalization. And the answer in this case can only be given by the attending physician.