Jessyca

Hi friends! <BR> <BR>I had a NASTY case of food poisioning last year in Sorrento in Italy. I was KNOCKED off of my feet for 2 days. Yow! I don't care to experience it again.. So you experienced Italian travelers.. any suggestions?? <BR> <BR>I know you all will want to know what I ate. <BR>Believe it or not.... a capuccino and a slice of pizza.. others had the same thing and were not ill. I made quite an Impression while I was there! J

Liam

The symptoms of food poisoning do not make themselves known until 24 hours after you've eaten the offending food. <BR> <BR>Also, actual food poisoning would have landed you in the hospital. It's a life-threatening illness, not just something that lands you in bed (and the bathroom) for 2 days.

Jessyca

Well who know... A doctor on my tour said it was food poisoning.. It took about 7 hours before I became ill. Nether the less it was an unpleasant experience.

nancy

I quess when one is in a country such as Italy, there is really no need to watch the water and washed, raw veggies. <BR>(although not all the tap H2O is "drinkable") <BR>The only hint is to wash your hands thouroughly and regularly, and keep your hands out of your mouth. <BR>Unfortunately a good number of people do not wash their hands after going to the bathroom, and these germs are easily left on surfaces for others to pick up. <BR>Hope you don't suffer again on your upcoming trip!

kim

What happened to Jessyca can happen anywhere - it is not just an Italy thing. Even in the good old USA people do not wash their hands after using the bathroom. So, hoping she doesn't suffer on an upcoming trip implies it can happen only on a vacation. So untrue!

kim

Author: kim ([email protected]) <BR>Date: 3/05/2001, 1:24 pm ET <BR> <BR>Message: What happened to Jessyca can happen anywhere - it is not just an Italy thing. Even in the good old USA people do not wash their hands after using the bathroom. So, hoping she doesn't suffer on an upcoming trip implies it can happen only on a vacation. So untrue!

M.D.

Liam: My medical references list 14 different bacterial causes of "food posoning" and they all differ in their time of onset of sympoms and severity. Some are from "spoiled" food (the classic staph food poisoning from potato salad), while others are transmitted when the food preparer is a carrier of the germ and does not wash his hands adequately. Anyway, Jessyca's symptoms are certainly compatible with some type of food poisoning. You can never fully protect yourself if you are going to let other people prepare your food (and why go on vacation if you are not going to do that?). The other poster's suggestions about hand washing are right on as well as using common sense when considering eating from a street vendor or taking food from a "buffet" where you don't know how long the food has been sitting out.

Jessyca

Thankyou MD.. appreciate the confirmationa and support. J

arnold

That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. <BR> <BR>

Thyra

Jeeyca, I got horrible food poisioning in Vienna... nearly had to go to the hospital. Mine was from eating a mayonaise that had sat under the heat lamp a little too long... (I didn't even eat the chicken that came on the sandwhich). I guess it serves me right for choosing a McDonalds, but it was late at night and that was the only thing in town still open.... I have horrible memories to this day. When you travel that's just a risk you take, try not to eat at buffets where food sits out, don't eat anything thats been under a heater for ages.. if you can tell. But it can happen anywhere, I had a friend visit from Liverpool who ate a sandwich from my favorite local deli and nearly died from tainted tunafish.he DID have to go to the hospital... it's no fun no matter who or where you are.

Jessyca

Thankyou! But, It's particularly less fun if you should be out seeing Rome VS/ at home. I had a very handsome Italian man offer to take me around Sorrento on his Motor scooter. I would love to do that and I was so ill I couldn't go... Aughh... Jcat

Liam

Sorry, MD. Food poisoning is pretty consistent with regards to the 24-hour period. What you are refering to is a gastrointestinal infection of somewhat, what people commonly, and mistakenly, refer to as food poisoning.

Liam

Replace "somewhat" with "some sort"

mo

Jessica, <BR>I'll be in Sorrento in 10 days. Can you tell me where did you have your pizza that made you sick? I would like to avoid it.

Diane

Mo, this happened a year ago. Could be the restaurant isn't even there anymore, or the employee is no longer there, or whatever bug Jes picked up was simply a wrong-place wrong-time thing. From what I've been reading, some places in Southern Italy have been getting illegally harvested clams from Chioggia (near Venice) taken from polluted waters. I'd ask about the origin of shell fish and be more concerned about that than where Jessyca had pizza a year ago.

Bill Barr

At a small restaurant close to Sorrento’s Riviera Hotel, we enjoyed our lunchtime Capri Salad. Beautiful large tomatoes stuffed full of water buffalo mozzarella cheese. Delicious. <BR> <BR>A good few hours later we became ill and the hotel called a doctor for us. He diagnosed food poisoning and went on to ask us what we had been eating almost from the previous lunchtime. His face lit up when we mentioned the Capri Salads and as he left the bedroom he looked at us sympathetically muttering knowingly ‘ah…mozzarella.’ <BR> <BR>The remaining four days of our break were miserable. Never felt so ill. To this day, I still can’t bear the smell of that cheese. <BR>

Jessycat

I'm sorry ... I was actually on the Isle of Capri when this adventure started. It was Sorrento that I actually REALLY embarrased myself in the middle of the street ..Io vomito.. I think you say in Italiano... Sorry.. for being icky!

Quicksilver

<BR> <BR>The Short Story: <BR> <BR>If you're eating *anything* that has been handled since it was cooked, be very careful. This includes cold cuts, cold seafood, salads, etc. <BR> <BR>The Long Story, If You Care To Read It: <BR> <BR>As well as the bacterial food poisonings we've all heard of, there are certain types of viral gastroenteritis that are passed by the faecal-oral route, often on food. I think it's beside the point to argue about whether we should call these viruses "food poisoning" or not. The point is that they can be passed via food and they lead to, ahem, unpleasant digestive events. The one I was unlucky enough to contract, called a Norwalk-like virus, is not life-threatening and doesn't even require hospitalization unless you were fragile to begin with. It's just really gross. <BR> <BR>So, you're not necessarily safe from food poisoning if you're avoiding animal products. One of the women in my party couldn't understand how she got food poisoning when she'd only had salads. The answer was simple: the virus was passed onto the food by people's hands. Norwalk-like viruses are killed by normal oven temperatures, but they'll survive (not reproduce, mind you, just survive) on cold foods for many hours, making the salads on this buffet a prime suspect. <BR> <BR>That said, I don't know what kinds of viral gastroenteritis are kicking around in Europe; I have no idea if Norwalk-like viruses have been reported there or not. Still, I think it's useful to know that such a thing as "viral food poisoning exists." <BR> <BR>To those of you who made it through the Long Story, I salute you. <BR> <BR>Happy, and safe, eating! <BR> <BR> - Quicksilver -

xxx

Staphylococcal food poisoning (staphyloenterotoxicosis; staphyloenterotoxemia) is the name of the condition caused by the enterotoxins which some strains of Staphylococcus aureus produce. <BR> <BR>The onset of symptoms in staphylococcal food poisoning is usually rapid and in many cases acute, depending on individual susceptibility to the toxin, the amount of contaminated food eaten, the amount of toxin in the food ingested, and the general health of the victim. The most common symptoms are nausea, vomiting, retching, abdominal cramping, and prostration. Some individuals may not always demonstrate all the symptoms associated with the illness. In more severe cases, headache, muscle cramping, and transient changes in blood pressure and pulse rate may occur. Recovery generally takes two days, However, it us not unusual for complete recovery to take three days and sometimes longer in severe cases <BR> <BR>The true incidence of staphylococcal food poisoning is unknown for a number of reasons, including poor responses from victims during interviews with health officials; misdiagnosis of the illness, which may be symptomatically similar to other types of food poisoning (such as vomiting caused by Bacillus cereus toxin); inadequate collection of samples for laboratory analyses; and improper laboratory examination. Of the bacterial pathogens causing foodborne illnesses in the U.S. (127 outbreaks, 7,082 cases recorded in 1983), 14 outbreaks involving 1,257 cases were caused by S. aureus. These outbreaks were followed by 11 outbreaks (1,153 cases) in 1984, 14 outbreaks (421 cases) in 1985, 7 outbreaks (250 cases) in 1986 and one reported outbreak (100 cases) in 1987. <BR> <BR>The following is an example of a typical outbreak: <BR> <BR>1,364 children became ill out of a total of 5,824 who had eaten lunch served at 16 elementary schools in Texas. The lunches were prepared in a central kitchen and transported to the schools by truck. Epidemiological studies revealed that 95% of the children who became ill had eaten a chicken salad. The afternoon of the day preceding the lunch, frozen chickens were boiled for 3 hours. After cooking, the chickens were deboned, cooled to room temperature with a fan, ground into small pieces, placed into l2-inch-deep aluminum pans and stored overnight in a walk-in refrigerator at 42-45°F. <BR> <BR>The following morning, the remaining ingredients of the salad were added and the mixture was blended with an electric mixer. The food was placed in thermal containers and transported to the various schools at 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM, where it was kept at room temperature until served between 11:30 AM and noon. Bacteriological examination of the chicken salad revealed the presence of large numbers of S. aureus. <BR> <BR>Contamination of the chicken probably occurred when it was deboned. The chicken was not cooled rapidly enough because it was stored in l2-inch-deep layers. Growth of the staphylococcus probably occurred also during the period when the food was kept in the warm classrooms. Prevention of this incident would have entailed screening the individuals who deboned the chicken for carriers of the staphylococcus, more rapid cooling of the chicken, and adequate refrigeration of the salad from the time of preparation to its consumption. <BR>

Patti Suttle

Being sick on vacation is a double whammy since you are in bed instead of seeing the sights AND you feel terrible! <BR>I broke one of my own rules last summer and paid the price! While on the train from Venice to Florence I ate one of those pre-packaged sandwiches-I never eat those!! But, it was the easiest thing to have at the time. I did not let it ruin my time in Florence but I certainly did not feel my best. I sure found out there just not as many places to use the bathroom as here! I felt better by the time we got to Rome. And it sure feels good to feel good-if you've "been there" you'll know what I mean! <BR>Patti <BR>