Food poisoning: is it contagious?

Food poisoning can ruin your meal and also your day.

According to the Mayo Clinic, food poisoning, also known as foodborne illness, is caused by consuming contaminated food. The most common causes include bacteria, viruses and parasites. This sickness can lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps.

According to the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 48 million Americans a year get sick from food-borne diseases.

If you recently have eaten with someone who has food poisoning, you might have cause worry about whether the sickness is contagious and that you might be next to become ill. That’s because some types of food poisoning are contagious. That depends on the type of bacteria, virus or parasite that caused it, according to Healthline.

Food poisoning is infectious, but this does not mean it is necessarily contagious from person to person, says 360training.com. More often, foodborne illness, such as salmonella or E.coli, is given by animals to humans.

You can get food poisoning not only by eating contaminated foods, but also from exposure to bodily fluids, including diarrhea or vomit, of an infected person. Anyone who has food poisoning should stay home, disinfect and not handle food or drinks until symptoms are gone.

Depending on the type of food poisoning you have, symptoms can last less than a week to longer, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Most symptoms of food-borne illness appear within minutes to hours, such as with norovirus or staph. In other cases, symptoms can appear much later, including for cyclospora and listeria food poisoning, according to the CDC.

Over-the-counter medicines such as Pepto Bismol and Kaopectate can help treat diarrhea induced by food poisoning in adults, according to the NIDDK, which says consult a doctor if your child has food poisoning before giving them these medicines.

Other treatments for food poisoning can include a doctor-prescribed antibiotic, medicines or probiotics. It’s also important to hydrate to replace lost fluids and electrolytes.

For adults, water, diluted fruit juices, sports drinks and broths can help rehydrate. For children, oral rehydration solutions, including Pedialyte, Infalyte and CeraLyte, can be given as directed, NIDDK says.

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