Management of food borne illness

Food borne illness is a serious public health problem. Number of Person dies as a result of food borne illnesses are primarily the very young, elderly and the immunocompromised. Recent changes in human demographics and food preferences, changes in food production and distribution systems, microbial adaptation, and lack of support for public health resources and infrastructure have led to the emergence of novel as well as traditional food borne diseases. With increasing travel and trade opportunities, it is not surprising that the risk of contracting and spreading a food borne illness now exists locally, regionally, and even globally. This primer is directed to primary care physicians, who are more likely to see the index case of a potential food-related disease outbreak. It is a teaching tool to update primary care physicians about food borne illness and remind them of their important role in recognizing suspicious symptoms, disease clusters, and etiologic agents, and reporting cases of food borne illness to public health authorities. Specifically, this guide urges physicians to: · Recognize the potential for a food borne etiology in a patient’s illness; · Realize that many but not all cases of food borne illness have gastrointestinal tract symptoms; · Obtain stool cultures in appropriate settings, and recognize that testing for some specific pathogens, e.g. E. coli O157:H7, Vibrio spp., must be requested; · Report suspect cases to appropriate public health officials; · Talk with patients about ways to prevent foodrelated diseases; and · Appreciate that any patient with food borne illness may represent the sentinel case of a more widespread outbreak. Food borne illness is considered to be any illness that is related to food ingestion; gastrointestinal tract symptoms are the most common clinical manifestations of food borne illnesses. This primer is not a clinical guideline or definitive resource for the diagnosis and treatment of food borne illness. Safe food handling practices and technologies (e.g. irradiation, food processing and storage) also are not addressed. More detailed information on these topics is available in the references and resources listed in this document, as well as from medical specialists and medical specialty societies, state and local public health authorities, and federal government agencies.