Food Poisoning

Dr. Kim Mulvhill / KRON 24jan01

San Francisco, CA, USA -- Each year 76 million Americans suffer from food-borne illnesses, 5,000 cases are fatal. Experts say misdiagnosis is a growing concern. Now a new program hopes to change that. Healthbeat team doctor Kim Mulvihill reports.

How do you know when it's food poisoning and not the flu? The right diagnosis can save your life. That's why the American Medical Association has teamed up with the FDA, the CDC and the department of agriculture to compile information to help doctors and nurses identify and treat food-borne illnesses.

Food poisoning is no picnic.

"Your whole body aches," says food poisoning victim Linda Burgeson. "You have the worst stomach cramps of your life. I never felt stomach cramps like that and I have three children."

If the aches and pains aren't bad enough, the American Medical Association says a growing problem of misdiagnosis is making matters worse. Each year more than 300,000 Americans have symptoms severe enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. Differentiating the symptoms of food poisoning from other illnesses like the flu can mean life or death.

"When you get the very young that get these illnesses or the very old or what we call immuno-compromised people, people with cancer, people with AIDS, people with diabetes, these infections can become deadly in their own right," says Dr. Daniel Derman.

One problem is that many food-borne illnesses have only recently been identified. In fact, experts say new disease-causing viruses and bacteria show up in foods every day.

"At the same time, some of the older pathogens that we once thought were conquered have re-emerged in foods," says Dr. J. Edward Hill of American Medical Association.

So the AMA is now distributing educational kits for healthcare providers on the frontline, detailing symptoms and appropriate treatments like using antibiotics judiciously. Antibiotics are a powerful weapon against bacterial infections but may damage the kidney when misused in certain types of food-borne illnesses.

There are simple steps for prevention:

• Wash your hands thoroughly and often

• Keep kitchen surfaces clean.

• Separate meat, eggs and poultry from fresh fruit and vegetables.

• Cook foods thoroughly and promptly refrigerate leftovers.

• Remember, no one is immune

"It can affect any one of us, anytime, anywhere," says Dr. Hill.

The most common symptoms are vomiting and abdominal cramps. They usually show up 12 to 72 hours after eating contaminated food. But the symptoms may hit as quickly as half an hour after eating or be delayed for several weeks.