Can food poisoning be fatal?

Many food ingredients contain substances harmful to the body, such as the lignin in apple cores, which is harmful to the body, and the folic acid in spinach, which can also have some negative effects. Generally speaking, if food poisoning is relatively minor, the body will only produce some uncomfortable symptoms, and recovery can be achieved through metabolic processes or medication. However, in severe cases, food poisoning can lead to death. Food poisoning refers to acute poisoning caused by food contaminated with bacteria or bacterial toxins, or food containing toxins. Depending on the cause, there can be different clinical manifestations.

Gastrointestinal food poisoning is most common in the hot summer and autumn seasons when bacteria are likely to grow and multiply in food. It is characterized by acute gastroenteritis symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

Staphylococcus food poisoning is an acute disease caused by eating food contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus and its produced enterotoxins. Common foods that cause Staphylococcus food poisoning mainly include starchy foods (such as leftover rice, porridge, rice noodles, etc.), milk and dairy products, fish and meat, eggs, etc. When contaminated food is left at room temperature for more than 5 hours at 20-22°C, bacteria multiply rapidly and produce enterotoxins. These toxins are highly heat-resistant and can retain their toxicity even after boiling for 30 minutes, causing illness. This disease is more common in summer and autumn.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus food poisoning is an acute or subacute disease caused by eating food contaminated with Vibrio parahaemolyticus or food containing the bacterium. Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a common food poisoning pathogen that accounts for a significant proportion of bacterial food poisoning. Clinically, it is mainly manifested by gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and watery stool. Food poisoning caused by this bacterium has common characteristics of bacterial food poisoning, such as outbreak onset (same time, same area, same or similar symptoms, same contaminated food), short incubation period (several hours to several days), and certain seasonality (most common in summer and autumn).