The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there are 76 million cases of food-borne illness a year in the United States. The problem sends nearly 325,000 people a year to the hospital; 5,000 a year die from it. The young, the old and the immune-compromised are hit hardest.
One of the main reasons for this is that many sick people don’t seek attention, resulting in most food-borne infections going undiagnosed and unreported. Of those who do, many are not tested. In the case of salmonellosis, the CDC estimates that 38 cases occur for every one that’s actually reported.
Of those that are admitted to hospitals, stool cultures are rarely taken due to the length of time – a few days – that it takes for results to come back. By then the patient has usually been released – unfortunate, because stool cultures are the standard diagnostic test for food-borne illness.
In addition, many doctors try to quickly diagnose the symptoms as appendicitis or a gastrointestinal virus, rather than take the steps to guarantee that it isn’t a food-borne illness.
Although infections caused by E. coli O157:H7, campylobacter, cryptosporidium, listeria and yersinia have declined, salmonella infections have showed the smallest declines. Of 15,806 laboratory-diagnosed cases of food-borne, more cases were from salmonella than any other pathogen.
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E. coli Food Poisoning
What is E. coli and how does it cause food poisoning? Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a highly studied, common species of bacteria that belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae, so...
E. coli O157:H7
E. coli O157:H7 is a foodborne pathogen that causes food poisoning. E. coli O157:H7 is the most commonly identified and the most notorious Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) serotype in...
Non-O157 STEC
Non-O157 Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli can also cause food poisoning. E. coli O157:H7 may be the most notorious serotype of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), but there are at least...
Sources of E. coli
Where do E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) come from? The primary reservoirs, or ultimate sources, of E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 STEC in nature are...
Transmission of and Infection with E. coli
While many dairy cattle-associated foodborne disease outbreaks are linked to raw milk and other raw dairy products (e.g., cheeses, butter, ice cream), dairy cattle still represent a source of contamination...
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