Foodborne illness causes

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Bacteria are a common cause of foodborne illness.

Most common bacterial foodborne pathogens are:

• Campylobacter jejuni
• Salmonella spp. – its S. Typhimurium infection is caused by consumption of eggs that are not adequately cooked or by other interactive human-animal pathogens ^{[1], [2], [3]}.
• Escherichia coli O157:H7
• Bacillus cereus
• Escherichia coli, other virulence properties, such as enteroinvasive (EIEC), enteropathogenic (EPEC), enterotoxigenic (ETEC), enteroaggregative (EAEC or EAgEC)
• Listeria monocytogenes
• Shigella spp.
• Staphylococcus aureus
• Streptococcus
• Vibrio cholerae, including O1 and non-O1
• Vibrio parahaemolyticus
• Vibrio vulnificus
• Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis

Less common bacterial agents:

• Brucella spp.
• Corynebacterium ulcerans
• Coxiella burnetii or Q fever
• Plesiomonas shigelloides

• Clostridium botulinum
• Clostridium perfringens
• Staphylococcus aureus
• Bacillus cereus

• Aflatoxins

• Altertoxins
• Citrinin –

• Citreoviridin –

• Cyclopiazonic acid –

• Cytochalasins

• Ergot alkaloids / Ergopeptine alkaloids – Ergotamine

• Fumonisins –
• Fusaric acid –

• Fusarochromanone –

• Kojic acid – ?

• Lolitrem alkaloids –

• Moniliformin –

• 3-Nitropropionic acid –

• Nivalenol –

• Ochratoxins – In Australia, The Limit of Reporting (LOR) level for Ochratoxin A (OTA) analyses in 20th Australian Total Diet Survey was 1 µg/kg ^[4], whereas the EC restricts the content of OTA to 5 µg/kg in cereal commodities, 3 µg/kg in processed products and 10 µg/kg in dried vine fruits ^[5].

• Oosporeine –

• Patulin
• Phomopsins –

• Sporidesmin A –

• Sterigmatocystin –

• Tremorgenic mycotoxins – Five of them have been reported to be associated with molds found in fermented meats. These are Fumitremorgen B, Paxilline, Penitrem A, Verrucosidin, and Verruculogen ^[6].

• Trichothecenes
• Zearalenone –

• Zearalenols –

Much is still not known about foodborne illness. Approximately sixty percent of outbreaks are still caused by unknown sources.

• Aeromonas hydrophila, Aeromonas caviae, Aeromonas sobria

• Enterovirus
• Hepatitis A is distinguished from other viral causes by its prolonged (2–6 week) incubation period and its ability to spread beyond the stomach and intestines, into the liver. It often induces jaundice, or yellowing of the skin, and rarely leads to chronic liver dysfunction. The virus has been found to cause the infection due to the consumption of fresh-cut produce which has fecal contamination ^{[7], [8]}.
• Hepatitis E
• Norovirus
• Rotavirus

Most foodborne parasites are zoonoses.

Platyhelminthes:

• Diphyllobothrium sp.
• Nanophyetus sp.
• Taenia saginata
• Taenia solium
• Fasciola hepatica

Nematode:

• Anisakis sp.
• Ascaris lumbricoides
• Eustrongylides sp.
• Trichinella spiralis
• Trichuris trichiura

Protozoa:

• Acanthamoeba and other free-living amoebae
• Cryptosporidium parvum
• Cyclospora cayetanensis
• Entamoeba histolytica
• Giardia lamblia
• Sarcocystis hominis
• Sarcocystis suihominis
• Toxoplasma gondii

Several foods can naturally contain toxins, many of which are not produced by bacteria. Plants in particular may be toxic; animals which are naturally poisonous to eat are rare. In evolutionary terms, animals can escape being eaten by fleeing; plants can use only passive defences such as poisons and distasteful substances, for example capsaicin in chilis and pungent sulphur compounds in garlic and onions. Most animal poisons are not synthesised by the animal, but acquired by eating poisonous plants to which the animal is immune, or by bacterial action.

• Alkaloids
• Ciguatera poisoning
• Grayanotoxin (honey intoxication)
• Mushroom toxins
• Phytohaemagglutinin (red kidney bean poisoning; destroyed by boiling)
• Pyrrolizidine alkaloid
• Shellfish toxin, including paralytic shellfish poisoning, diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, neurotoxic shellfish poisoning, amnesic shellfish poisoning and ciguatera fish poisoning
• Scombrotoxin

• Tetrodotoxin (fugu fish poisoning)

Some plants contain substances which are toxic in large doses, but have therapeutic properties in appropriate dosages.

• The foxglove contains belladonna.
• Poisonous hemlock (conium) has medicinal uses.

• Prions, resulting in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

An early theory on the causes of food poisoning involved ptomaines, alkaloids found in decaying animal and vegetable matter. While some alkaloids do cause poisoning, the discovery of bacteria left the ptomaine theory obsolete and the word “ptomaine” is no longer used scientifically.

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