Gastroenteritis
What is it?
It's estimated there are more than 9 million cases of gastroenteritis each year in England. For an increasing number of people, it can be due to food poisoning, something that's preventable. Gastroenteritis is an infection of the stomach and intestines.
Gastroenteritis describes symptoms affecting digestion, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pain.
The most common symptoms of the condition are diarrhoea and vomiting.
Some sources of the infection are improperly prepared food, reheated meat dishes, seafood, dairy, and bakery products. Each organism causes slightly different symptoms but all result in diarrhea.
Food poisoning is the type of gastroenteritis caused by eating or drinking something contaminated with micro-organisms or germs, or by toxic substances produced by these germs. These illnesses are often accompanied by fever, muscle aches, shivering and feeling exhausted.
The most serious complication is dehydration , usually due to severe diarrhea but sometimes made worse due to improper treatment such as withholding fluids until the diarrhea stops.
What is the cause?
- In the food - the food isn't cooked thoroughly, so the micro-organisms aren't killed off, often the case with barbecued food.
- On the food - the person preparing the food doesn't wash their hands before handling the food, for example.
Campylobacter infection is the most common cause of food poisoning seen by GPs. It likes to live in milk and poultry. Other common causes include salmonella, listeria, shigella and clostridia. Some take a few hours to cause symptoms, others a few days. Serious infections with E.coli are, fortunately, uncommon.
Globally, gastroenteritis caused 4.6 million deaths in children in 1980 alone, most of these in the developing world where the lack of adequate safe water and sewage treatment capacity contribute to the spread of infectious gastroenteritis.
Can I prevent it?
- Always wash your hands thoroughly before preparing food, after going to the toilet and after handling pets
- Store all perishable foods at 5°C (41°F) or less
- Keep raw food covered up
- Rinse fruit and vegetables under running water before eating
- Throw away any food that's past its use-by date, doesn't smell right and/or has fungus on it
- Keep kitchen work surfaces clean
- Make sure food is defrosted completely before cooking
- Ensure food is cooked thoroughly before eating. Meat shouldn't have any pink bits
- Serve reheated food piping hot
- Keep raw meat and fish covered and store at the bottom of the fridge
- Keep pets away from food
What is the treatment?
Most infections last 24 to 48 hours, during which time fluid is often lost from vomiting and diarrhoea. To prevent dehydration, drink plenty of cooled boiled water and use rehydration powders if the symptoms continue.
Sometimes antibiotic treatment is necessary; this can be determined by testing for the micro-organism responsible.
It's especially important anyone whose work involves handling or preparing food stays away from work while they have symptoms to avoid infecting others. They must also notify, and seek advice from, their local environmental health department.
If someone suspects that food bought from, or eaten in, a specific shop, takeaway or restaurant is responsible, they should also inform their local environmental health department, so food hygiene standards can be investigated.