Microbial Hazards in Foods: Food-Borne Infections and Intoxications 483Food - Borne Disease Cases
A food - borne disease case is the consump-
tion of contaminated food by one susceptible
person who later became ill.Endemic
An endemic occurs when a particular illness
affects an entire community.Epidemic
An epidemic is an unusually large number of
cases of a particular illness from a single
source in a community.Pandemic
A disease is said to be pandemic when it
affects the entire world.Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of diseases in a
population using statistical methods. An epi-
demiologist studies patterns of diseases and
their causative agents in terms of a popula-
tion, whereas a physician treats individual
patients.Etiologic Agent
An etiologic agent is the agent that caused a
specifi c disease.Food - Borne Intoxications
Chemical intoxications are usually the result
of accidents. People have been poisoned by
inorganic compounds such as antimony,
arsenic, cyanide, cadmium, lead, selenium,
and mercury. The symptoms usually occur
rapidly (in a few minutes or hours), and in
cases of ingestion of large doses of the toxic
compounds, reactions are usually violent.
Immediate medical assistance is essential for
the victims in such cases.effects of consuming the food are minimal.
But if the contamination of bacteria, yeasts,
and fungi levels are too high, then there will
be undesirable physical, chemical, and bio-
chemical changes, such that the food involved
becomes unappealing to human senses and
not suitable for consumption.
Food - Borne Intoxication
Toxic compounds in foods may come from
chemical contamination or be preformed
by toxigenic microorganisms. When these
toxins are consumed, susceptible persons
will become ill.
Food - Borne Infection
Food - borne infection takes place when
microorganisms are ingested from food, and
then continue to grow in the gastrointestinal
tract, causing susceptible persons to become
ill. For this to happen, usually the number of
microorganisms present in the food needs to
be around one million live organisms per
gram of food, but there are cases when as low
as 100 cells and even 10 or fewer cells per
gram of food can cause infection.
Food Poisoning
Food poisoning is the ingestion of contami-
nated food containing either live microbes
that produce toxins in the gastrointestinal
tracts of susceptible persons or chemical pre-
formed toxins, causing the individual to then
become ill.
Food - Borne Outbreak
A food - borne outbreak is the consumption of
contaminated food from one source by two
or many people who later became ill. A food -
borne outbreak can have two cases or 100,000
cases, with the exception of botulism, in
which case, one individual with botulism is
considered one outbreak.