The spread of the disease presumably has been stopped by changing the feeding patterns for animals in England. 6 People can get foodborne illness from eating food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites, poisons, or toxins. Certain mushrooms can produce severe and often fatal food poisoning. Although nurses should be aware of the many other causes of foodborne disease, this article will concentrate only on the microbial causes of foodborne illnesses. Common symptoms of foodborne illnesses are abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bloody stools, fever, and dehydration.
People occasionally experience fatigue, lethargy, and muscle pains.
The manifestations of illness range from so mild as to be hardly noticeable to so severe that hospitalization is required. In the most extreme cases, death can occur. Everyone is susceptible to foodborne illnesses, but the young, the aged, and the immune-compromised are especially at risk from the consequences of eating microbially contaminated food. It is now known that this type of foodborne illness is caused by a toxin in food produced by the organism Staphylococcus aureus . This bacteria usually makes its way into food from the noses or skin lesions of food handlers.