POISONING: FOOD INGESTED

What is poisoning by ingestion?

Poisoning by ingestion refers to the oral intake of a harmful substance that, even in small amounts, can damage tissues, disturb bodily functions, and possibly cause death. Immediate injury results when the poison excoriates soft tissues, as with a strong acid or alkali. A delayed response occurs when the poison is absorbed into the bloodstream and causes systemic symptoms.


Substances commonly ingested include over the counter medications (such as acetaminophen or iron supplements), household cleaning products, or parts of houseplants. Ingested poisoning may be accidental or intentional. Permanent multiorgan damage may result from initial loss of airway, breathing, and circulation, and from specific organ toxicity.

Which Germs Are to Blame?

Foods from animals, raw foods, and unwashed vegetables all can contain germs that cause food poisoning. The most likely source is food from animals, like meat, poultry (such as chicken), eggs, milk, and shellfish (such as shrimp).

Some of the most common bacteria are:

1. Salmonella (say: sal-meh-nel-uh)
2. Listeria (say: lis-teer-ee-uh)
3. Campylobacter (say: kam-pe-low-bak-ter)
4. E. coli (say: ee kole-eye)

What Will the Doctor Do?

If you go to the doctor, he or she will ask you a lot of questions about how you're feeling, when you first felt sick, what you ate in the past few days, and if anyone else you know is also sick. The doctor might also take a sample of your stool (poop) and urine (pee) to test for possible germs that might have caused food poisoning.

The type of treatment you'll get for food poisoning will depend on the specific germ that is making you sick. The doctor might give you medicine, but most of the time someone who has food poisoning doesn't need to take medicine.

It's also rare that a kid with food poisoning would need to go to the hospital. Usually, only people who get really dehydrated have to go to the hospital. Being dehydrated means your body has lost too much fluid due to diarrhea and vomiting. A dehydrated person can get fluids and medicine through an IV at the hospital. To keep from getting dehydrated, try to keep drinking fluids when you are sick.

You may also need to go to the hospital if you have blood in your poop. If you do see blood in your poop, you should definitely tell your parents about it.

How to Fight the Germs

Many things can be done to prevent food poisoning. These precautions should be taken at every stage a food takes — from preparation to cooking to storing leftovers. A lot of this responsibility falls on grown-ups, but kids can help fight germs, too. One of the best ways is to wash your hands if you're helping to prepare foods.

When should you wash? Before you start helping — so germs from your hands don't get on the food — and after so you don't pass along germs from the food to yourself or anyone else. If you don't, here's how germs can travel:

1. You help make hamburger patties.
2. You get bad bacteria from the raw ground beef on your hands.
3. You hold your little sister's hand.
4. She uses that hand to eat a snack.
5. Now the bacteria have made it inside and can make her sick.

Other steps you can take to keep your food safe include:

1. Wash fruits and vegetables well before eating them.
2. Only eat foods that are properly cooked. If you cut into chicken and it looks pink and raw inside, tell a grown-up.
3. Look at what you're eating and smell it, too. If something looks or smells different from normal, check with an adult before eating or drinking it. Milk is a good example. If you've ever had a sip of sour milk, you know you never want to taste that again! Mold (which can be green, pink, white, or brown) is also often a sign that food has spoiled.
4. If you're going to eat leftovers, ask a grown-up for help heating them up. By heating them, you can kill bacteria that grew while it was in the fridge.
5. Check the date. Lots of packaged foods have expiration dates or "sell by" dates. Don't eat a food if today's date is after the expiration date. Use it before it expires. Some of these dates are "sell by," which means that the food should leave store shelves by that time. Ask an adult for help deciding if it's past the sell by date.
6. Cover and refrigerate food right away. Bacteria get a good chance to grow in foods that sit at room temperature. By putting food in the fridge, you're putting the chill on those bad germs!