Over 1.5 million campylobacter infection cases are reported in the United States every year, making it one of the most common causes of intestinal infection and diarrhea worldwide. While typically only a small number of people are infected with Campylobacter infection at a time, it can also occur as an outbreak, infecting hundreds and thousands of people at once.

A foodborne illness outbreak is when two or more people experience a similar illness after ingesting a common meal or food. According to a report by the CDC, every 1 in 6 Americans is a victim of a foodborne illness annually, accounting for 3000 deaths and 128,000 hospitalizations. You can easily get food poisoning by consuming food with pathogens due to unsafe handling practices, contaminants that stay on food during the production process or as a result of being stored in dirty warehouses. Read on to learn about the worst foodborne illness outbreaks in the history of the United States.

Salmonella Outbreak

Salmonella is a bacteria that kills the cells in your intestinal walls, causing severe food poisoning. The symptoms of Salmonella (abdominal cramp, fever, and diarrhea) appear within 12 hours to 3 days after eating the contaminated food and automatically disappear within 4 to 7 days. Treatment for Salmonella includes electrolytes, antibiotics, fluids, and medications.

First identified in 1977, Legionnaires' disease was a result of the pneumonia outbreak in a US convention center in 1976. Caused by bacteria called Legionella, Legionellosis is a severe form of pneumonia. Most patients of Legionnaires' disease become sick by inhaling the bacteria from soil or water bodies like showers, swimming pools, and hot tubs. Legionella bacteria can also cause Pontiac fever which has flu-like symptoms and can be easily treated. However, if left untreated, Legionnaires' disease can be life-threatening, especially for people with a weak immune system. According to studies, one in ten people with Legionellosis is expected to die.

In this article, we will discuss the causes, symptoms, and treatment for Legionnaires' disease. Keep reading to protect yourself and your loved ones from the rarest form of pneumonia.

Belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family, Escherichia Coli is a rod-shaped bacterium that thrives in all kinds of environments, with or without air. Commonly known as E. coli, the bacteria love to live in the intestine of warm-blooded animals and humans. According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a total of 265,000 E. coli cases are reported in the United States annually, resulting in 30 fatalities and 3,600 hospitalizations. The majority of these cases (around 36%) are caused by the STEC O157 E. coli strain, whereas the non-O157 STEC strains cause 64%. Read on to learn more about the E. coli bacteria infection.

What Is E. coli Bacteria Infection?

Found in the intestines of both animals and healthy people, E. coli is a bacteria that helps in the digestion of food. Even though harmless, some Escherichia Coli strains cause life-threatening bacterial infections. When an E. coli strain infects your body, it produces a toxin that damages the internal lining of the small intestine, causing diarrhea. There are primarily six strains of Escherichia Coli:

In American society, there is too often a sense that if someone is suffering due to a foodborne illness, they are simply grappling with a turn of bad luck. In reality, food poisoning usually occurs because of negligent practices by individuals or companies. As a result, many cases of food poisoning are legally actionable. Inadequate hygiene, poor safety practices, and a host of other preventable challenges are what generally lead to food poisoning on farms, in manufacturing facilities, packaging centers, stores, restaurants, and events where food is served.

There are two challenges that generally make filing a food poisoning matter in civil court particularly tricky. First, a plaintiff must be able to prove that their food poisoning resulted in financial loss, such as medical bills from a hospital stay and lost income due to time off taken to recover. Second, it can be difficult to prove exactly how and why a food poisoning victim became ill.

Retracing One’s Steps  

For a food poisoning case to be actionable, a victim must be able to prove that they were suffering from food poisoning, not an alternative medical condition. As a result – and so that they can be treated effectively – it is important for those who have been made ill to seek medical attention and to obtain a formal diagnosis.