Food Poisoning May Cause Lingering Health Problems Years After Supposed Recovery

If you've ever come down with a bad case of food poisoning, take note. The germs that caused it may affect you long after you supposedly recovered -- in some cases, for years.

In Scientific American's April issue, Maryn McKenna tells the story of 14-year-old Dana Dziadul, who for more than a decade suffered from chronic joint pain. Doctors ultimately determined it was arthritis, caused by a bout of salmonella poisoning Dziadul had contracted more than a decade earlier.

McKenna continues:

Long-term consequences are not limited to individuals who were hospitalized, as Dana was. They have also been recorded in people who experienced what seemed to be minor bouts of fever, vomiting or diarrhea. The consequences include reactive arthritis, urinary tract problems and damage to the eyes after Salmonella and Shigella infections; Guillain-Barré syndrome and ulcerative colitis (a chronic bowel inflammation) after Campylobacter infection; and kidney failure and diabetes after infection with Escherichia coli O157:H7. Those organisms are very common: federal investigators have identified them in meat, milk, poultry, eggs, seafood, fruit, vegetables and even processed foods.

Although there exist some comprehensive studies that prove the connection between food poisoning and health problems years later, few have been conducted in the U.S., mainly because little attention is often paid to patients after the most serious symptoms of the illness pass.

It's something to keep in mind as food poisoning from imported products seems to be on the rise, according to a recent report from the Center for Disease Control. Imported foods were tied to 38 major outbreaks of food poisoning between 2005 and 2010, which resulted in 2,348 cases of sickened people. Seventeen of those cases -- nearly 45 percent -- took place at the end of that period, between 2009 and 2010.

Just this week, The Associated Press reported that spicy tuna rolls are the suspected culprits behind the sickening of 90 people in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[beth24]

01:52 AM on 04/16/2012

Dont think the Higher Power wants people to eat sushi as more than an occassional delicacy. Now that Walmart has it etc.. this is so unethical and wrong. we are over fishing and over harvesting for peoples decadent taste buds.Sin

[NikkiK1984]

12:58 AM on 04/16/2012

I have Crohn's Disease and the main theory behind it is that some "event" causes the immune system to turn off. It can be simple food poisoning or even foods that cause inflammation.

As I've come out with Crohn's more and more people have shared that they are also experiencing something similar and are being tested for the condition. It's not as rare as one thinks.

As a society, we should lessen the stigma associated with GI diseases, because millions of people suffer in silence and there is ongoing research to cure the disease, it just needs more funding. A bad case of food poisoning, surgery complications, or undiagnosed delayed allergies can happen to ANYONE.

[NikkiK1984]

01:00 AM on 04/16/2012

Not turn off. Our immune system is too active. Many of us take drugs to suppress our immune systems.

[ginadeoliveira2008]

03:05 PM on 04/10/2012

That's absolutely scary! You may keep a healthy diet(with some amount of sacrifice) and still fall ill with those bugs.

[Lmurwood]

12:38 PM on 04/10/2012

Wow! I did not know that. Very disconcerting.

[mission impossible]

03:17 PM on 04/09/2012

The video of that sushi looks nasty! I would not even touched that sushi if it looked like that. Interesting article though. I can believe it though!

[Pennsylvanianne]

01:57 PM on 04/09/2012

We all need to cook more ourselves, from scratch, using good, fresh ingredients that are well-washed and making sure our hands are clean, clean, clean!

[bcarb]

02:57 PM on 04/09/2012

Amen

[MissFrijole]

04:22 PM on 04/09/2012

You assume that people have time to cook anymore! I cook maybe twice a week and I live alone. Sometimes, you just don't have the care to do it. But when I DO cook, man, is it delicious! I can eat so much of it I feel sick from overeating! I wish I could could every day.

[Pennsylvanianne]

04:32 PM on 04/09/2012

I didn't say ONLY cook ourselves, I said do it MORE. One idea is to cook large quantities on weekends, then freeze the leftovers to be taken out the following week. If you do it several weekends in a row, you will have enough for most or all of the following week.

[celere]

11:40 AM on 04/08/2012

From the article: "It's something to keep in mind as food poisoning from imported products seems to be on the rise, according to a recent report from the Center for Disease Control. Imported foods were tied to 38 major outbreaks of food poisoning between 2005 and 2010..."

That's because other countries don't suffer from "big government" FDA regulations. Their food producers are "free" to poison people with impunity.

And apparently even our "big government" import regulations aren't "big" enough to keep us safe.

Now isn't that nice?

[edejan]

06:40 PM on 04/08/2012

That's why we need smaller government, right? Right?

[goodmarina]

04:03 AM on 04/09/2012

brilliant question!

[Richcrafter]

11:32 AM on 04/08/2012

Ten months after single event and 125 days of profuse runs; 1/3 of body weight gone, 2/3 of hair. Im still uncertain surviving it was worth it. In fact have I died it would have been better. Food poisoning is no joke. It ultimately took the last of my life. The doctors took the rest. I'm too weak to sue; and suffering too much to think about it. Another person would do it vigilante style... No one cares it happened. I've assured that the grocers name is on my tomb stone. In print larger than my name. It's sad to know on Easter morning one will soon be dead.

[goodmarina]

04:04 AM on 04/09/2012

I'm sorry for your pain : (

I pray you'll heal and be stronger & better than before.

[Bread n Circus]

09:40 AM on 04/09/2012

What the heck happened?

[freddsky]

11:23 AM on 04/08/2012

The wedding of the future will be one in which the guests arrive with brown bag lunches for themselves. Instead of spending a fortune on catering, someone (usually the bride's Mom and Dad?) will have a fully equipped medical tent available to play catch-ups on previous infections. It can be made festive: women in awful pink dresses and men strangling in tuxes, etc. Those who feel that a wedding simply isn't a wedding unless you are sick as a dog the next day---are perfectly free to toss aside their brown bags and graze on the grass.

[bikefolder32]

10:25 AM on 04/08/2012

It's been mentioned before that this type of lingering bacteria or parasite can be the root cause of joint/general malaise that tends to be misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia - for lack of a specific diagnosis to point to.

Will be interesting to see in the next decade or so if this gets more attention and many fibromyalgia diagnoses disappear.

[Solitaire727]

12:08 PM on 04/09/2012

Now that really interests me, because my symptoms (that have been variously diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, or "You just need a shrink and a good aerobics course") began, I now realize, after a months-long bout with Shigella infection. Yet no doctor ever pointed out a possible link between the two, and I never before made the connection. Thank you!!

[miggiepdx]

11:01 AM on 04/10/2012

Thank you so much for this post. Our DIL suffers from fibromyalgia, and I have forwarded your comments for her further research. So grateful for your insight.

[Mindy Czech]

01:09 AM on 04/07/2012

I've had food poisoning and parasites before, though those were within the last few years. I have had severe health issues since I was 12, and now I'm 25. This makes me wonder if any of my severe sicknesses can be traced back to when I got foot-hand-mouth disease at three up at my lakehouse after stepping in goose poop as a four-year-old. Little kids are disgusting and germy, and I was sick for weeks with that.

[Solitaire727]

12:10 PM on 04/09/2012

I believe that hand-foot-mouth disease is actually more closely related to the virus that causes chicken pox. On the other hand, chicken pox virus lingers in the body for a lifetime and can return with a vengeance as Shingles. So why couldn't hand-foot-mouth disease produce symptoms years later, too?

[MagicalPossibilities]

11:09 PM on 04/06/2012

Really? Maybe that explains all my aches and pains. Weird pain that comes and goes. Joints, bladder, intestines. I had a bad case of food poisoning over 25 years ago when I lived in Brazil, followed by months of intestinal problems. The initial food poisoning never got diagnosed or treated, because I had no medical insurance. I just spent a couple of days in agony. The intestinal problems were apparently some kind of amoeba. I don't remember well, but I think I was finally prescribed some type of anti-parasite treatment which cleared it up.

[kcrom]

04:50 PM on 04/06/2012

My family member went to a wedding reception and the next day almost all were sick as can be. The health dept. said it was probably from a chef having feces on this hand during food prep. Washing our hands is very very important.

[Pennsylvanianne]

01:56 PM on 04/09/2012

And signs about washing hands are posted in every single restaurant for the staff to read and adhere to! This guy should have been arrested. People who work in food service know better!