Don't forget the importance of hand washing. Wash your hands often and well, especially after going to the bathroom, touching animals, or coming in from outside, and before eating or preparing food. Avoid swallowing water while swimming. Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size. What Are E. Coli Infections?
How Do E. Coli Infections Happen? At-risk foods include: undercooked ground beef such as in hamburgers that are pink inside produce grown in manure from cows, sheep, goats, or deer produce washed in contaminated water unpasteurized dairy or juice products The bacteria also can spread from person to person on unwashed hands and surfaces, by swimming in contaminated water, and from touching animals at farms or petting zoos.
What Are the Signs of an E. Coli Infection? What Problems Can Happen? Signs of HUS include: peeing less a pale or swollen appearance unexplained bruises bleeding from the nose or gums being very tired seizures HUS can be-life threatening and needs to be treated in a hospital.
How Are E. How do you prevent E. Drink only pasteurized apple cider and milk. Never let youngsters sample milk produced directly from the animal. Wash all fruits and vegetables before eating. Thorough hand washing is always a good practice. Make sure hands are washed with soap and water after using the toilet, handling diapers, pets, livestock or before preparing food. Clean and sanitize counter tops and utensils after these have been in contact with raw meats and poultry.
Use separate work surfaces and utensils for preparing raw and cooked foods. Drink water from a supply intended for human consumption.
Do not drink water from open streams and lakes. If ill with diarrhea, avoid preparing or handling food that others will be eating. If employed as a food handler or a health care worker, report any symptoms to your manager. Frequently Asked Questions What are the symptoms of infection? Unfortunately, this happens more often than we would like to think about.
Exposures that result in illness include consumption of contaminated food, consumption of unpasteurized raw milk, consumption of water that has not been disinfected, contact with cattle, or contact with the feces of infected people.
Some foods are considered to carry such a high risk of infection with E. These foods include unpasteurized raw milk, unpasteurized apple cider, and soft cheeses made from raw milk. Sometimes the contact is pretty obvious working with cows at a dairy or changing diapers, for example , but sometimes it is not like eating an undercooked hamburger or a contaminated piece of lettuce. People have gotten infected by swallowing lake water while swimming, touching the environment in petting zoos and other animal exhibits, and by eating food prepared by people who did not wash their hands well after using the toilet.
Almost everyone has some risk of infection. Because there are so many possible sources, for most people we can only guess. Public health experts rely on estimates rather than actual numbers of infections because not all STEC infections are diagnosed, for several reasons. Many infected people do not seek medical care; many of those who do seek care do not provide a stool specimen for testing, and many labs do not test for non-O STEC.
However, this situation is changing as more labs have begun using newer, simpler tests that can help detect non-O STEC.
STEC infections are usually diagnosed through laboratory testing of stool specimens feces. Identifying the specific strain of STEC is essential for public health purposes, such as finding outbreaks. However, for the O group serogroup and other characteristics of non-O STEC to be identified, Shiga toxin-positive specimens must be sent to a state public health laboratory.
Contact your healthcare provider if you have diarrhea that lasts for more than 3 days, or it is accompanied by high fever, blood in the stool, or so much vomiting that you cannot keep liquids down and you pass very little urine. Non-specific supportive therapy, including hydration, is important. Antibiotics should not be used to treat this infection.
There is no evidence that treatment with antibiotics is helpful, and taking antibiotics may increase the risk of HUS. School and work exclusion policies differ by local jurisdiction. Check with your local or state health department to learn more about the laws where you live. In any case, good hand-washing after changing diapers, after using the toilet, and before preparing food is essential to prevent the spread of these and many other infections.
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Questions and Answers. Minus Related Pages. Shiga toxin-producing E. This pathotype is the one most commonly heard about in the news in association with foodborne outbreaks.
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