Oral rehydration solutions ORS are recommended for people vulnerable to the effects of dehydration, such as the elderly and those with a pre-existing health condition. ORSs are available in sachets from pharmacies. You dissolve them in water to drink and they help replace salt, glucose and other important minerals your body loses through dehydration.
If you have a kidney condition, some types of oral rehydration salts may not be suitable for you. Ask your pharmacist or GP for further advice about this. If your symptoms are severe or persistent, or you are more vulnerable to serious infection for example, because you are elderly or have an underlying health condition , you may need further treatment.
Tests may be carried out on a stool sample to find out what it causing your symptoms and antibiotics may be prescribed if the results show you have a bacterial infection.
Medication to stop you vomiting anti-emetics may also be prescribed if your vomiting is particularly severe. In some cases, you may need to be admitted to hospital for a few days so you can be monitored and given fluids directly into a vein intravenously.
The best way to avoid getting food poisoning is to ensure you maintain high standards of personal and food hygiene when storing, handling and preparing food. These steps are important because things such as a food's appearance and smell aren't a reliable way of telling if it's safe to eat. You can prevent the spread of harmful bacteria and viruses by maintaining good personal hygiene standards and keeping work surfaces and utensils clean.
You shouldn't handle food if you are ill with stomach problems, such as diarrhoea or vomiting or you have any uncovered sores or cuts. It's important to cook food thoroughly, particularly meat and most types of seafood, to kill any harmful bacteria that may be present.
Make sure the food is cooked thoroughly and is steaming hot in the middle. To check that meat is cooked, insert a knife into the thickest or deepest part. It is fully cooked if the juices are clear and there is no pink or red meat. Some meat, such as steaks and joints of beef or lamb, can be served rare not cooked in the middle , as long as the outside has been cooked properly. When reheating food, make sure it is steaming hot all the way through. Don't reheat food more than once. Certain foods need to be kept at the correct temperature to prevent harmful bacteria from growing and multiplying.
Always check the storage instructions on the label. If food that needs to be chilled is left at room temperature, bacteria can grow and multiply to dangerous levels. Cooked leftovers should be cooled quickly, ideally within a couple of hours, and put in your fridge or freezer.
Cross-contamination is when bacteria are transferred from foods usually raw foods to other foods. This can occur when one food touches or drips onto another food, or when bacteria on your hands, work surfaces, equipment or utensils are spread to food. Home Illnesses and conditions Infections and poisoning Food poisoning. Food poisoning See all parts of this guide Hide guide parts 1.
About food poisoning 2. Causes of food poisoning 3. Treating food poisoning 4. Preventing food poisoning. About food poisoning Food poisoning is an illness caused by eating contaminated food.
Signs and symptoms The symptoms of food poisoning usually begin within one to two days of eating contaminated food, although they may start at any point between a few hours and several weeks later.
The main symptoms include: feeling sick nausea vomiting diarrhoea , which may contain blood or mucus stomach cramps and abdominal pain a lack of energy and weakness loss of appetite a high temperature fever aching muscles chills In most cases, these symptoms will pass in a few days and you will make a full recovery.
What to do Most people with food poisoning recover at home and don't need any specific treatment, although there are some situations where you should see your GP for advice see below. Read more about treating food poisoning When to see your GP You should contact your GP if: your symptoms are severe — for example, if you're unable to keep down any fluids because you are vomiting repeatedly your symptoms don't start to improve after a few days you have symptoms of severe dehydration , such as confusion, a rapid heartbeat, sunken eyes and passing little or no urine you're pregnant you're over 60 your baby or young child has suspected food poisoning you have a long-term underlying condition, such as inflammatory bowel disease IBD , heart valve disease, diabetes or kidney disease you have a weak immune system — for example, because of medication, cancer treatment or HIV In these situations, your GP may send off a stool sample for analysis and prescribe antibiotics , or they may refer you to hospital so you can be looked after more closely.
How is food contaminated? Causes of food poisoning Food can become contaminated at any stage during its production, processing or cooking. For example, it can become contaminated by: not cooking food thoroughly particularly meat not correctly storing food that needs to be chilled at below 5C keeping cooked food unrefrigerated for a long period eating food that has been touched by someone who is ill or has been in contact with someone with diarrhoea and vomiting cross-contamination where harmful bacteria are spread between food, surfaces and equipment Cross-contamination can occur, for example, if you prepare raw chicken on a chopping board and don't wash the board before preparing food that won't be cooked such as salad , as the harmful bacteria can be spread from the chopping board to the salad.
See preventing food poisoning for information about reducing these risks Types of infection Food contamination is usually caused by bacteria, but it can also sometimes be caused by viruses or parasites. Campylobacter In the UK, campylobacter bacteria are the most common cause of food poisoning.
But if you're otherwise healthy and you think you can get through it, it's probably going to last six to 12 hours, and then you should feel better. You may want to go to the ER if you need to get some fluids, need to get some medication for nausea and vomiting, just to get through it.
But the reality is most people are going to get through it okay. They're going to feel pretty crummy, but come out of it feeling weak, but feeling all right after 12 hours. Interviewer: Would an urgent care be able to help you with those things, an IV and medication? Madsen: They might be able to. The problem is if you go in an urgent care and you're just vomiting a lot, they might just get concerned enough, they might just send you straight to the ER.
So it's kind of a tough call. Your doctor also might be able to call in a medication for you, some nausea medication, and maybe someone could pick it up for you. Because if you could just get that stuff in your system, you should be able to get through it okay. Interviewer: Got you. And other than my own personal health, could it be something else that's more insidious than just food poisoning that would cause concern? I suppose if it doesn't stop in 12 hours, that's when.
Madsen: Yeah. It absolutely could, and that's the tough thing with food poisoning. We have people come in all the time that say, "I've got food poisoning," and honestly, I have no way to know unless they tell me, "Yeah, this other person was there and they got sick too and ate the same thing. There are lots of things that go through my mind so, definitely, if you're not feeling better after even six hours, you may consider getting checked out. And if you're having lots of abdominal pain, bloating in your abdomen, like your abdomen just feels like it's really distended, like it's sticking out, or you're really tender in the right, lower side of your abdomen, those are all things that might suggest something else going on.
Announcer: Want The Scope delivered straight to your inbox? Enter your email address at TheScopeRadio. Announcer: Have a question about a medical procedure? Want to learn more about a health condition? Use a fridge thermometer to check it. This prevents harmful germs from growing and multiplying. Avoid overfilling your fridge. If it's too full, air can't circulate properly. This can affect the temperature. If you have cooked food that you're not going to eat straight away, cool it as soon as possible.
Do this within 90 minutes. Store it in the fridge or freezer. Use any leftovers from the fridge within 2 days. Do not eat food that's past its use-by date, even if it looks and smells okay. Use-by dates are based on scientific tests.
These show how quickly harmful bugs can develop in the packaged food. Page last reviewed: 26 April Next review due: 26 April Read our cookies policy to find out more about our cookies and how we use them. Food poisoning. Food poisoning is usually caused by eating food that is contaminated by bacteria. Symptoms of food poisoning The main symptoms of food poisoning include: feeling sick nausea vomiting diarrhoea, which may contain blood or mucus stomach cramps and abdominal tummy pain a lack of energy and weakness loss of appetite a high temperature fever aching muscles chills The symptoms usually start within 1 to 2 days after eating contaminated food.
In most cases, these symptoms will pass in a few days and you will make a full recovery. Causes of food poisoning You can catch food poisoning if you eat something that has been contaminated with germs.
This can happen if food is: not cooked or reheated thoroughly not stored correctly — for example, it's not been frozen or chilled left out for too long handled by someone who's ill or has not washed their hands eaten after its 'use by' date Cross-contamination can happen if you prepare raw and cooked food on the same chopping board. Foods than can be contamination if not handled, stored or cooked properly include: raw meat and poultry raw shellfish unpasteurised milk 'ready-to-eat' foods.
Non-urgent advice: Contact your GP if:. This could be inflammatory bowel disease IBD , diabetes or kidney disease you have a weak immune system — for example, because of medication, cancer treatment or HIV. Reporting food poisoning If you think your food poisoning has been caused by a restaurant or other food outlet, you can report it to your local environmental health department.
Wash dishcloths Wash dishcloths and tea towels regularly.
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