Tag Archives: food poisioning

Top 10 List of Parasites That Cause Food Poisoning

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Ever wondered which foodborne parasites cause the most illness? The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) have recently compiled a Top 10 list so public health efforts can be focussed on the bugs with the greatest impact.

pork-tapewormLike foodborne bacteria, foodbrone parasites affect the health of millions of people every year. Health effects include damage muscles and organs, epilepsy, anaphylactic shock and dysentery. Some parasites can live on in our bodies for decades.

Parasites can be found in meat, poultry and produce. Last year, a cyclospora outbreak linked to fresh. imported produce sickened 631 people in the U.S. But cyclospora didn’t make the Top 10 list. These bugs did. Number 1, Taenia solium, or pork tapeworm, contracted by eating undercooked contaminated pork. Number 2, Echinococcus granulosus , or hydatid worm or dog tapeworm, contracted by eating contaminated fresh produce. Number 3, Echinococcus multilocularis, a type of tapeworm found in fresh produce. Number 4, toxoplasma gondii, a protozoa found in pork, beef, and game meat. Number 5, cryptosporidium spp. a protozoa found in fresh produce, fruit juice and milk. Number 6, entamoeba histolytica a protozoa in fresh produce. Number 7, trichinella spiralis, or pork worm. Number 8, Opisthorchiidae, flatworms found in freshwater fish. Number 9 is ascaris spp.,roundwoms contracted by eating contaminated fresh produce. And Number 10, trypanosoma cruzi a protozoa found in contaminated fruit juices.

New guidelines to control these parasites are being developed with support form the the FAO and WHO. The goal is to develop new standards for the international food trade.

The Four Types of Food Poisionings

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Food poisoning can be classified as to the area where the infection occurs.

Type 1 Poisons (toxins) produced in the food
Short incubation periods.
Examples:
Staphylococcus Aureus – or staph, found in open wounds and sinus infections.
Bacillus Cereus – “Fried Rice Syndrome” caused by improperly cooked or refrigerated items.
Botulism – an anaerobic (no air), bacteria caused by improper canning.

Type 2 Poisons (toxins), released in the intestines.
Clostridium Perfringens – a bacteria found in all of nature. In plants, animals, humans, air, and soil. When the thing – plant, animal, or human dies, it grows rapidly and decomposed the plant or animal. The smell of decaying vegetation and dead animals is caused by the gas produced by C Perfingens doing its natural job. This is why anything left out for over three hours has to be thrown away. There is no fixing it because the toxins it produces can not be killed.

Type 3 Infections in the intestines.
Salmonella – most common food poisioning. Naturally occuring in poultry, eggs, and all meats. If not cooked to the proper temperature, it will survive. Only a thermometer can tell you when something is done.
Campylobacter – (meaning “twisted bacteria”),Campylobacter jejuni is now recognized as one of the main causes of bacterial foodborne disease in many developed countries.At least a dozen species of Campylobacter have been implicated in human disease, with C. jejuni and C. coli the most common.C. fetus is a cause of spontaneous abortions in cattle and sheep, as well as an opportunistic pathogen in humans.

Type 4 Infections in the blood and body.
Of the over two thousand strains of Salmonella, at least three have the capability to leave the intestines and enter the blood stream. Salmonella Typhi caused Typhoid Fever, for example.