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In today's world are you more susceptible to food poisoning/E Coli by eating out at local restaurants? I am of the position that you may expose yourself to these threats more often than not. My wife was very ill after eating at one of the local restaurants, that is visited by a number of people. We had three people eating similar foods but one had ice tea ( Wife ) and the others water. This was very recent. She became very ill with very serious diarrhea and cramping for a number of days. We did not seek medical attention at the time and medicated with some medicine on hand. What have others experienced, related to this type of illness and have you approached medical opinion or the health departments? I have heard many times that folks mistake this E Coli infection with the Flu. I am afraid we may have made the same mistake. All is well now but what if? I am afraid that we may becoming an accepting public to these type of food related issues. JMHO.
Too many people get sick and immediately think food poisoning.
Whatever this restaurant is.. The odds are very good that your wife was not the only person who had iced tea.
The more likely scenario is that someone who was ill touched or left the virus on a surface that your wife then touched and then touched her eyes, mouth or similar, thus infecting herself.
Food poisoning generally takes days to develop. However, the misconception of food poisoning takes root much faster. "I ate a hamburger from XYZ and 2 hours later was sick as a dog".. No, you were sick before eating that burger, you just didn't know it yet.
Too many people get sick and immediately think food poisoning.
Whatever this restaurant is.. The odds are very good that your wife was not the only person who had iced tea.
The more likely scenario is that someone who was ill touched or left the virus on a surface that your wife then touched and then touched her eyes, mouth or similar, thus infecting herself.
Food poisoning generally takes days to develop. However, the misconception of food poisoning takes root much faster. "I ate a hamburger from XYZ and 2 hours later was sick as a dog".. No, you were sick before eating that burger, you just didn't know it yet.
Bingo!!!!
Ive only had food poisoning once, I was 12 years old, the Boy Scout camp had gotten some bad meat, and just about everyone who ate them got sick! Ive seen reviews online for certain places around here and all of them have at least one post where someone says "I got sick eating here"!
"Symptoms from the most common types of food poisoning will often start within 2 - 6 hours of eating the food. That time may be longer or shorter, depending on the cause of the food poisoning."
I've had food poisoning twice in Greenville, both times from restaurants and confirmed by other cases. It's quite common. A whole group of us got sick after eating at The Lazy Goat. Symptoms started a few hours after we ate there, a couple of people missed work the next day.
I have never had food poisoning, (well actually once at my MIL's, after she thought the porch was a good place to leave the leftover turkey) but almost every time I eat at a restaurant it has been a cure for constipation . Just one of the reasons I generally eat at home.
Too many people get sick and immediately think food poisoning.
Whatever this restaurant is.. The odds are very good that your wife was not the only person who had iced tea.
The more likely scenario is that someone who was ill touched or left the virus on a surface that your wife then touched and then touched her eyes, mouth or similar, thus infecting herself.
Food poisoning generally takes days to develop. However, the misconception of food poisoning takes root much faster. "I ate a hamburger from XYZ and 2 hours later was sick as a dog".. No, you were sick before eating that burger, you just didn't know it yet.
She became very ill with very serious diarrhea and cramping for a number of days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Labonte18
Too many people get sick and immediately think food poisoning.
I've had food poisoning four times, three times from restaurants. Here's my take:
The OP's wife probably did not get food poisoning. Food poisoning comes on fast (2-6 hours after exposure), and goes away fast so that 24 hours late you are doing pretty darn good, just a bit gun shy and careful about what you eat. (Read the link I provided - it doesn't take several days to come on, that's ridiculous)
And when you've had food poisoning, there's very little doubt as to what happened. Your body reacts by trying to get rid of the poison by emptying your digestive system with authority, out of either end, often simultaneously. It's severe, quick, and decisive. You're not sure wether to lean over the toilet or sit on it, so the best thing to do is sit on the toilet and grab a bucket, cause it's all coming out. Grab some tissues and a gatorade, too.
Am I painting a picture here for y'all, yet?
Maybe too many people blame food poisoning for other illnesses, but it does indeed happen more than people recognize.
And there seems to be a good amount of ignorance out there as to how food poisoning happens, it's symptoms, etc., as some posts on here demonstrate.
The only time I blamed food poisoning when I actually had something else is when I had giardia (a severe illness caused by a parasite), which you do not recover from without medical attention.
I read an article once that said even if many people eat the same food, only one may potentially become ill. The idea was that, for example, if you're eating at a covered-dish party, there may be a large casserole that became contaminated in one small spot, and the bacteria may be contained within that small piece that is scooped out by one lucky recipient. It does not necessarily spread through the entire dish, depending on how it was prepared and how it got contaminated.
As far as restaurants go, I think it's kinda touchy. It can be hard to tell definitively if you actually got sick there, or like others mentioned, someone with filthy hands grabbed a doorknob right before you as you proceeded to put your hand in your mouth afterwards.
I read an article once that said even if many people eat the same food, only one may potentially become ill. The idea was that, for example, if you're eating at a covered-dish party, there may be a large casserole that became contaminated in one small spot, and the bacteria may be contained within that small piece that is scooped out by one lucky recipient. It does not necessarily spread through the entire dish, depending on how it was prepared and how it got contaminated.
Yes I think that's true; my husband and I both had the soup, salad, and breadsticks at Olive Garden (the only thing I will eat there) and he got violently ill; I was fine.
The OP's wife probably did not get food poisoning. Food poisoning comes on fast (2-6 hours after exposure), and goes away fast so that 24 hours late you are doing pretty darn good, just a bit gun shy and careful about what you eat. (Read the link I provided - it doesn't take several days to come on, that's ridiculous)
However.. Let's focus on common types of food poisoning.
Norovirus takes 12-48 hours after exposure before symptoms begin. Now, technically, once you ingest the food and are infected, food poisoning has occurred, so.. If you want to go from that angle.. Yeah, you're infected immediately. Symptoms, however, do not start immediately.
E.Coli infections normally take days. But.. it also all depends on the load of virus/bacteria that you get and other factors.
Norovirus, 5 viruses is enough to cause infection (which is why it spreads so wildly on cruise ships) and if you get 5 viruses, it takes longer for it to replicate enough to make you ill vs if you take a bite of something that has 50k viruses on it.
I hate using Wikipedia for 'evidence', but.. Since the referenced article costs $30.. I'll do it here.
Quote:
126 people were dining at six tables in December 1998; one woman vomited onto the floor. Staff quickly cleaned up, and people continued eating. Three days later others started falling ill; 52 people reported a range of symptoms, from fever and nausea to vomiting and diarrhea. The cause was not immediately identified. Researchers plotted the seating arrangement: more than 90% of the people at the same table as the sick woman later reported becoming ill. There was a direct correlation between the risk of infection of people at other tables and how close they were to the sick woman. More than 70% of the diners at an adjacent table fell ill; at a table on the other side of the restaurant, the attack rate was still 25%. The outbreak was attributed to a Norwalk-like virus (norovirus).
Now.. That's not food poisoning. That's just people in the same room as someone infected with Norovirus. But.. If that hadn't been scientifically investigated.. Most people would say that food poisoning caused all those people to get sick.
Plus, the fact that people generally eat every 8 hours or so.. It's very easy for them to say, as I said before, they got sick after eating a burger, so it must have been that burger.
people who say they have gotten food poisoning probably didn't.. But the only way to be sure is if there is a cluster. You go out to eat, your wife and you get the same thing, she gets sick and you don't.. Food Poisoning or not? Well.. Honestly.. We can't say. It could be.. It might not be. You and your wife go out eat the same thing and both get sick. Food poisoning? Perhaps, but, perhaps not.. It's just as likely that you picked up Norovirus from another source and transmitted it to her.
If 5000 people get sick and they all had Spinach manufactured by The Global Spinach Company with no other common factors. Food poisoning? Yep.
the only way you can say "I got food poisoning" and be right without doubt, is when a cluster of people get sick and it's all tracked back to a common source. Such as the Jack in the Box E.Coli outbreak in the 90's. Or the Chipotle thing recently. And.. That's not 'the only way'.. But.. Realistically it's about the only way.
Food Poisoning is probably both very under and over-reported. Which sounds like i'm talking out of my ass, but.. Remember that it just requires that you get infected by ingesting infected food. If you're the only one who gets sick, however.. It's much more unlikely to be food poisoning.
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. Just one of the reasons I generally eat at home.
