Fast Five Quiz: This Thanksgiving, Are You Prepared to Confront Food Poisoning?

Richard H. Sinert, DO

Disclosures

November 23, 2015

The following are some of the salient features of food poisoning:

Acute diarrhea in food poisoning usually lasts less than 2 weeks. Diarrhea lasting 2-4 weeks is classified as persistent. Chronic diarrhea is defined by duration of more than 4 weeks.
The presence of fever suggests an invasive disease. However, sometimes fever and diarrhea may result from infection outside of the gastrointestinal tract, as in malaria.
A stool with blood or mucus indicates invasion of the intestinal or colonic mucosa.
When vomiting is the major presenting symptom, suspect S aureus, Bacillus cereus, or Norovirus.

For more on the presentation of food poisoning, read here.

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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.

Cite this: Richard H. Sinert. Fast Five Quiz: This Thanksgiving, Are You Prepared to Confront Food Poisoning? - Medscape - Nov 23, 2015.

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