That sucks, how long was the incubation period?

*confused* what??

Hey everyone, Trace here for DNews! My buddy Jared who runs the DNews social media pages

got food poisoning today, so we thought we'd pull back the curtain on foodborne illness.

People CALL it food poisoning, but the medical community call it foodborne illness, which

makes sense. You're not being poisoned by food, but infected by something that's living

on the food. Commonly, food poisoning is caused by bacteria, viruses, molds, toxins, parasites

or allergens.

They range from the fairly well known, E. Coli and Salmonella to the far less known

campylobacter, toxoplasma, listeria and clostridium perfringens (clostridEum per-fringe-ens).

According to the FDA, most foodborne illnesses go away on their own and don't have lasting

effects -- but there are those, like E. Coli O157:H7 which can cause kidney failure and

death if not treated properly. Not all e.coli is bad, by the way. Some e.coli is part of

your natural gut bacteria!

A number of things can result in food being "poisoned" or infected. Most often, according

to the Mayo Clinic, food poisoning comes from food that’s mishandled or not cooked properly.

Maybe it's left under the warmer too long, not refrigerated properly, handled by a person

who didn't wash their hands, or touched a surface that wasn't recently cleaned. Every

contaminant has an ideal condition, and they vary from bacteria to virus.

And though you might be thinking, YES! I was at that place around the corner and TOTALLY

got it from there, you might be wrong. Some of these foodborne illnesses can strike days

or weeks after exposure because it takes a while for the organism to replicate in your

body and strike -- this is the incubation period.

The most common pathogens, C. Perfringens, Salmonella and the Norovirus have short incubation

periods ranging from 6-72 hours. All three cause diarrhea, but while salmonella and norovirus

ALSO cause vomiting, c. perfringens doesn't! E.coli and campylobacter incubate for several

days before striking and both result in severe diarrhea containing blood, and vomiting. Toxoplasma

can incubate for weeks and produce no symptoms at all, and listeria can live in your body

from three to SEVENTY DAYS before showing flu-like symptoms! You could eat something

two weeks before Halloween and not feel it til Christmas!

Some cases of food poisoning or food borne illness are even mistaken for the flu, because

people can't remember when they ate at that dodgy deli. And again, most of the time, you'll

just get better on your own, thanks to the immune system. But you won't feel awesome.

These diseases cause diarrhea because they're inhibiting your body from absorbing nutrients

and water OR they're causing MORE water to be added into the bowel. This means your body

has to pass all that stuff out of your digestive system, and in a hurry.

If you're nerds, like us, you can look up your symptoms on foodsafety.gov

and know what you got, how long you've had it, and what probably caused it! It's, like,

really nerdy. Also -- drink lots of water, but NOT caffeine or dairy because your stomach

is already irritated, those will make it worse. Make sure you consume some broth or electrolyte

drink to keep some nutrients flowing too. And, speaking of flow, DON'T try and stop

the flow out yer butt with anti-diarrhea meds. You're body's doing it on purpose, you'll

just get in the way, literally. If you see blood, call a doctor. When was the last time

you got food poisoning? Where'd you get it?

Tell us down below in the comments and be sure you subscribe for more DNews. And as

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