Escherichia coli
By: Kelsey, and Trinity
Name and description
This food-borne illness is bacteria normally live in the intestines of healthy people and animals. Most varieties are harmless or cause relatively brief diarrhea, or abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea, and vomiting.
The illness
Symptoms can vary from person to person but they usually include: severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (often watery and may develop into bloody), vomiting, and fever.
10,000 to 20,000 infections occur in the United States each year.
How the illness is diagnosed
You can receive E.coli from being contaminated by food or water- especially raw vegetables and under-cooked ground beef. This was first recognized as a cause of illness in 1982, during an outbreak of bloody diarrhea
Foods with which the organism is associated
Infections can be caused by many things including improperly cooked beef, raw fruits and uncooked vegetables, untreated drinking water, unpasteurized (raw) milk and (raw) milk products, unpasteurized apple juice/cider, and direct contact with animals at petting zoos or farms.
Possible complications of the illness
Particularly young children and older adults may develop life threatening form of kidney failure.
Safety precautions to prevent contamination
Proper hand washing and safe food handling and preparation practices are important to preventing the spread of food-borne illnesses. E. Coli can be avoided by following some simple and easy steps when it comes to handling food. Keep your cold foods at or below 4 °C. Always cook your meats to the proper temperatures because bacteria are destroyed when food is cooked to a certain internal temperature.