Food Borne Illness: Causative Pathogen of Infectious Disease and Their Transmission

Most pathogens prefer to grow in pH neutral conditions; many of the cavities in the body are protected from an invasion by a high pH. An example of this is the stomach, which is very acidic and kills ingested pathogens.

There have been many outbreaks of foodborne illnesses in the United States which claim thousands of lives each year. I chose my essay topic based on my desire to contribute to creating awareness of simple methods of foodborne disease prevention. Also, I currently work in the healthcare service industry and I am enrolled in Community and Public Health with UoPeople. This topic is directly related to my career.

Many countries use the fermentation method in order to preserve or enhance the flavors of foods. However, the result of fermentation can also lead to drastic symptoms. For instance, the article “Food-Borne Paralysis from Eating Home-Pickled Eggs” from an Outbreak 37 article is about a 68-year-old man having symptoms involving paralysis and muscle weakness after eating the home-pickled eggs that he had made. This is one example of what we call Clostridium Botulinum. Clostridium Botulinum is a rod-shaped bacterium with a terminal endospore. This pathogen grows best around room temperature to warm areas and loves the environment that has soil. They are also gram-positive bacteria. There are three types of Clostridium Botulism: foodborne, infant botulism, and wound. These different types of botulism have different symptoms, causes, preventions, and treatments. C. Botulinum has spores that releases toxins and can germinate and affect other organisms. This neurotoxin is highly toxic which can make a person have paralysis. Originally, there are more than four different types of botulism, but those other types of botulism do not affect human’s health.

Did you know that foodborne illness kills 3,000 people each year? At least 128,000 Americans are hospitalized from foodborne illnesses. Most foodborne illnesses are acute, meaning they happen suddenly and last a short time, and most people recover on their own without treatment. Foodborne illnesses are infections caused by food or beverages that contain harmful bacteria, parasite, viruses or chemicals. If you develop foodborne illness/food poisoning rest and drink lots of water. All foods have small amounts of bacteria. Symptoms of the diseases are abdominal cramping, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fever, headache and body ache. “Easy way to prevent food illness are to cook to the right temperature, wash your hands and surface often, refrigerate foods promptly, and separate raw meats from other foods.” (https://www.cdc.gov) The CDC estimates that 48 million foodborne illnesses cases occur in the United States every year.

In this paper we will be discussing Botulism. Botulism is a type of food poisoning that is both rare and serious. Botulism can be caused by different strains of the bacterium Clostridium, however, it is usually is caused by Clostridium botulinum. Botulism can cause severe symptoms, including paralytic symptoms that can eventually lead to death. There are different types of botulism including foodborne botulism, wound botulism, and infant botulism. All types of botulism may be lethal and should always be considered a medical emergency. If illness is left untreated the possibility is greatly increased. We will also discuss a rare case of

There are diseases that can spread person to person. These are called infectious diseases. Ebola is one of them. Ebola is a very dangerous disease that is life threatening. A bacteria called Mononegavirales is the agent of ebola, or the one that carry and spread the disease. Fruit bats and humans are host of Ebola. People believe that bats caught the disease and then humans ate those bats and humans then caught the disease. Younger or older people can catch this disease. This disease was found in West Africa and in lives in hot or warm climates.

This paper dives into foodborne illness and food safety. Food portion sizes that deal with obesity and with an article on www.sciencedaily.com researchers who are challenging conventional beliefs about the effective strategies for helping with healthy eating for children and teens. These researchers address issues such as the harmfulness of weight-stigma, and help encourage a healthier eating lifestyle. The paper also discusses taste perception, with Marty Nemko stating "food is maximally multisensory. Food piques all five senses". I believe all these subjects together lead to taste aversion and the development of disgust.

The bacteria did not have any special modes of transmission so it only started out being spread by air and water. Once enough people had contracted the disease by air, it was easier to infect the people who continuously faced massive flooding; these places include Mexico, Canada, Australia and the United States. After a while I decided to add insect and rodent to the list of ways the disease could be spread just to ensure that nobody could escape the disease that hadn’t

“Infections caused by microbes that contaminate the food supply are a frequent reminder of the complex food web that links us with animal, plant, and microbial populations around the world. While we are all at risk, the elderly, the very young and those with compromised immune systems are most vulnerable.

The mode of transmission is droplet transmission. Droplet transmission occurs when someone who is unwell expels infected droplet particles by coughing, sneezing and or talking with a susceptible host. Droplet transmission can also occur when the infected droplets are expelled onto a common area and a susceptible host touches the same area then continues to rub their eyes or eat without carrying out proper hand hygiene beforehand. (Koutoukidis, Stainton & Hughson,

Foodborne illness affects 1 in 6 Americans, or 48 million people a year. 3,000 people die from some type of foodborne illness a year. There are many causes of foodborne illness, such as failure to thoroughly cook food, improper sanitation when handling food, food prepared a day or more before they are served, and foods allowed to remain at bacteria-incubation temperatures. The most common diseases caused by foodborne illness are Salmonellosis, or Salmonella, Campylobacteriosis, Escherichia coli, and Cholera. Countries like Japan that had an outbreak of Vibrio, United Kingdom, infected with Campylobacter, and Germany, which had an outbreak of E. Coli, have all had multiple outbreaks of have all had one or multiple outbreaks of a food disease.

Food contamination. Another way disease-causing germs can infect is trough contaminated food and water. This mechanism or transmission allows germs to be spread to many people through a single source. For example, is a bacteria present in or on certain foods; such as undercooked hamburger or unpasteurized fruit juice.

The unwanted spread of foodborne illnesses has become a main cause of gastrointestinal complications from consuming tainted foods. Over seventy-six million cases will occur in the United States every year according to Sagar, in "Viruses in Food." The spread of foodborne illness is through the oral-fecal route and can be from viral causes like Hepatitis A, Noroviruses, and Human Caliciviruses, or has bacteria present like E. Coli or Salmonella. Thinking about consuming contaminated foods with fecal material present seems like it would be unrealistic. However, even microscopic traces of fecal matter found on the food items can carry any of the viral, or bacterial properties can cause illness. The process of not being thoroughly cooked and or cleaned properly is some of the other leading factors of foodborne illness. Cross contamination, along with improper handling and cooking of raw meats, poultry, and egg products are to blame for this in the United States. Stopping the unwanted spread of foodborne illness may prove to be difficult, due to the vast variety of causes; however, with proper education of cleaning & cooking of raw foods the battle of foodborne illness can begin to be stopped.

Foodborne illness or food poisoning is the result of in taking toxic food that is contaminated or can be spoiled. It might seem rare for someone to receive food poisoning, but it is not uncommon. Some of the most common symptoms of food poisoning are nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. It is usually a self-treatable and self-diagnosed due to the symptoms. Food poisoning has an effect on the victim for a few days to about a week.

     Bacteria are a common cause of food borne illness. Toxins for bacterial infections are delayed because the bacteria need time to multiply. Their symptoms are usually not seen until 12–72 hours or mainly the day after it is ingested and digests completely, more after eating contaminated food.