Staphylococcal food poisoning is caused by ingesting food contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which produces toxins causing symptoms such as abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. It is not contagious and usually resolves within one to three days. Contaminated food cannot be identified visually or by smell, so proper food handling and hand washing are crucial in prevention. Common sources include ham, sandwiches, meat salads, chicken, potato salads, puddings, and desserts.
Staphylococcal food poisoning, formally known as staphyloenterotoxicosis or staphyloenterotoxaemia, is a usually short-lived, though unpleasant illness caused by ingestion of food contaminated with bacteria in the staphylococcal family, usually Staphylococcus aureus. This bacterium commonly colonizes up to a quarter of the ear, nose, throat and skin areas of the population without causing disease to the carriers. When ingested in foods susceptible to colonization, S. aureus produces toxins as a byproduct of its collective metabolism. These toxins are what cause the characteristic symptoms of staph food poisoning: sometimes severe abdominal cramps, severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Symptoms of staph food poisoning usually occur soon after ingesting the contaminated food, between one and six hours, although this time frame depends on the sufferer’s age, weight, appetite, and general health.
Although often grouped into outbreaks, staph food poisoning is not contagious and cannot be passed from one individual to another. The reason for an epidemiological clustering of food poisoning events is the sharing or common source of contaminated food among a group of people. This rapid onset of staph food poisoning often helps investigating health departments in identifying the source. The normal course of the disease is also rapid, and symptoms usually resolve within one to three days, provided no complications occur. Antibiotics are not used in the treatment of staph food poisoning; however, the symptoms of dehydration are sometimes treated with fluid replacement.
Staph food poisoning is usually started when a food preparer inadvertently contaminates food during preparation. If the resulting dish is not then refrigerated to at least 40°F (about 4.4°C) for cold foods or heated to at least 140°F (about 60°C) for hot foods, S. aureus bacteria can multiply rapidly. Contaminated food cannot be identified by any visual inspection or by any unusual smell. Unfortunately, the only non-laboratory sign that food is contaminated will be the onset of food poisoning symptoms after ingestion. Therefore, frequent hand washing and maintaining the correct temperature for food is imperative to prevent an episode of staph food poisoning.
Staph is a heat and salt resistant bacteria, hence the common association of ham with food poisoning. Other foods that are often found as a source of staph food poisoning can easily be remembered by considering the usual “picnic” foods: sandwiches, meat salads, chicken, potato salads, puddings and some desserts.
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