Food Poisoning or Foodborne Illness
Basics
Description
Any illness resulting from the ingestion of food or drink contaminated with an infectious organism or associated toxin
Epidemiology
- Highest incidence in children <5 years
- Hospitalizations and death more common in persons >64 years
- See Appendix, Table 8 regarding epidemiologic aspects by organism.
General Prevention
- Vaccination
- Oral rotavirus vaccine
- Hepatitis A vaccine
- Preventive strategies
- Hand washing (soap and water)
- Avoidance of contaminated water and raw foods (seeded fruits and vegetables)
- Proper food handling (adequate cooking and refrigeration)
- Avoidance of unpasteurized dairy products and juices
- Avoidance of raw or undercooked eggs, meat, and shellfish
- Avoidance of honey in children <1 year old
Pathophysiology
- Gastroenteritis
- Viral epithelial invasion/replication or ingestion of preformed elaborated toxin
- Noninflammatory diarrhea
- Selective destruction of absorptive cells in mucosa, leaving secretory cells intact
- Toxin elaboration (secretory diarrhea)
- Impairment of brush border enzymes and lactose intolerance (osmotic diarrhea)
- Inflammatory diarrhea/dysentery
- Direct mucosal invasion of intestinal epithelial cells (colon)
- Toxin elaboration
- Inflammatory infiltration destroys villous cells and transporters and leads to exudation of mucus/protein/blood into gut.
- Local/remote invasion (bacteremia, meningitis, hepatitis, septic arthritis, osteomyelitis)
- Immune-mediated extraintestinal manifestations (hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), reactive arthritis, Guillain-Barré syndrome [GBS])
Etiology
- Viruses
- Most common cause of foodborne illness
- Caliciviruses (norovirus, sapovirus)
- Rotavirus (infant/child)
- Astrovirus
- Enteric adenovirus
- Hepatitis A
- Bacteria
- Salmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi, nontyphoidal Salmonella
- Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli
- Shigella sonnei, Shigella flexneri, Shigella boydii
- Escherichia coli
- Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) including Shiga toxin–producing E. coli (STEC)
- Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC)
- Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC)
- Enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC)
- Enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC)
- Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus
- Listeria monocytogenes
- Brucella spp.
- Yersinia enterocolitica
- Toxin mediated
- Clostridium perfringens
- Staphylococcus aureus
- Bacillus cereus
- Clostridium botulinum
- Parasites
- Entamoeba histolytica
- Giardia intestinalis
- Cryptosporidium
- Cyclospora cayetanensis
- Toxoplasma gondii
- Trichinella spiralis
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Citation
Cabana, Michael D., editor. "Food Poisoning or Foodborne Illness." 5-Minute Pediatric Consult, 8th ed., Wolters Kluwer, 2019. Pediatrics Central, peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/5-Minute-Pediatric-Consult/617192/all/Food_Poisoning_or_Foodborne_Illness.
Food Poisoning or Foodborne Illness. In: Cabana MDM, ed. 5-Minute Pediatric Consult. Wolters Kluwer; 2019. https://peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/5-Minute-Pediatric-Consult/617192/all/Food_Poisoning_or_Foodborne_Illness. Accessed December 10, 2024.
Food Poisoning or Foodborne Illness. (2019). In Cabana, M. D. (Ed.), 5-Minute Pediatric Consult (8th ed.). Wolters Kluwer. https://peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/5-Minute-Pediatric-Consult/617192/all/Food_Poisoning_or_Foodborne_Illness
Food Poisoning or Foodborne Illness [Internet]. In: Cabana MDM, editors. 5-Minute Pediatric Consult. Wolters Kluwer; 2019. [cited 2024 December 10]. Available from: https://peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/5-Minute-Pediatric-Consult/617192/all/Food_Poisoning_or_Foodborne_Illness.
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