Food Poisoning or Stomach Virus? The Telltale Symptoms to Look For

The terms food poisoning, stomach bug, stomach flu, and stomach virus are often used interchangeably, but they’re not the same. A stomach bug or stomach flu is a sickness caused by a virus (the medical term for this condition is viral gastroenteritis). The virus causes an inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract (stomach and intestines). On the other hand, food poisoning occurs after eating contaminated food or spoiled food, caused by foodborne germs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), food poisoning affects some 48 million Americans each year, and it is more common than viral illnesses. 

Please continue reading to learn more about the telltale signs that can help you determine whether you’re dealing with a viral infection or food poisoning.

You should suspect food poisoning if the food looks, tastes, or smells bad. Germs that cause food spoilage often cause food to become slimy or mushy in appearance, develop unpleasant odors, and taste sour or “off. ”

How do you tell if you have a stomach bug or something else?

Food poisoning and viral gastroenteritis cause many of the same symptoms. Common food poisoning symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, and diarrhea are also symptoms of stomach flu. So, the truth is that you may never know if you have a stomach virus or food poisoning. However, some clues can help you figure it out (more about this later). 

What are the obvious symptoms of having food poisoning?

The most common food poisoning symptoms include abdominal pain or cramping, diarrhea, and vomiting. Other symptoms of food poisoning can include thirst, headache, low-grade fever, chills, sweating, tiredness, and muscle aches. People with severe symptoms may notice bloody stools or vomit, severe abdominal cramps, and even fainting or loss of consciousness.

What are the symptoms of a stomach bug?

Viral gastroenteritis or stomach bug symptoms are similar symptoms to food poisoning. The symptoms typically include nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhea, and stomach cramps. You can also develop symptoms such as thirst, dry mouth, lightheadedness, tiredness, fever, muscle aches, joint pain, and urinating less than usual.

What is the difference between food poisoning and stomach bug?

Here are some of the critical differences between stomach flu and food poisoning.

Cause

• Viral gastroenteritis is caused by viruses such as norovirus, rotavirus, and other viruses.
   
• Food poisoning is caused by foodborne germs, including viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Some of the most common germs that cause foodborne illnesses in the U.S. are norovirus, salmonella, and Staphylococcus aureus (Staph).

Onset

• Symptoms of stomach flu develop 24-48 hours after exposure to the virus.
   
• Symptoms of food poisoning develop within a few hours (2-6 hours after eating contaminated food).

Diagnosis

• Doctors usually diagnose a stomach virus based on your symptoms. There is a rapid stool test that can detect norovirus and rotavirus, but it is not available at most health clinics.
• Food poisoning is diagnosed based on your history and symptoms. A stool test can help to identify bacterial or parasitic infections.

Treatment

• You can treat a stomach bug at home by replacing fluids and electrolytes to prevent dehydration and eating bland foods that are easy to digest (a BRAT diet is recommended – bananas, applesauce, rice, and toast). Some over-the-counter medicines can help to relieve your symptoms.
   
• Treatment for food poisoning also consists of replacing fluids and electrolytes to stay hydrated and eating easy-to-digest foods. In severe cases, doctors may prescribe antibiotics for certain types of food poisoning. 

Transmission

• Viral gastroenteritis is highly contagious, and it spreads via the vomit or feces of an infected person through personal contact. For example, if someone is sick and has not washed their hands thoroughly, they might have the virus on their hands and can transmit it to you when you shake hands. It can also spread through contaminated food and drink or contaminated objects.
   
• Food poisoning occurs when you eat contaminated food or drink contaminated water or beverages.

Prevention

• You can prevent viral gastroenteritis by washing your hands thoroughly if you’re sick or have been around someone who is sick. There is a vaccine available against rotavirus. 
   
• You can prevent food poisoning by keeping your food preparation equipment and surfaces clean, refrigerating perishable foods, eating fully cooked meats and eggs, and discarding foods that appear to be spoiled.

How do I know if it’s stomach flu or food poisoning?

Both conditions cause gastrointestinal distress. However, if you have a fever, headache, body aches, and projectile vomiting, you may have a stomach bug or viral gastroenteritis. If you have bloody diarrhea, it could be food poisoning.

The circumstances surrounding your illness can offer clues. If you develop symptoms within a few hours of eating food that may have been spoiled or contaminated, you likely have food poisoning. 

If a family member or friend ate the same food and became sick, that’s another clue that points to food poisoning.

If you have eaten foods that are easily contaminated or spoiled, such as salad greens, undercooked eggs or meat, seafood, raw milk, or dairy products just before your symptoms worsen, it could be food poisoning. 

On the other hand, if you have been around someone who has a similar illness, it could be viral gastroenteritis. For example, if your child is sick and there’s a stomach bug going around your child’s school.

When to see a doctor?

Most people with a food-borne illness get better on their own in 2-5 days without medical treatment. You should see a doctor if:

• You have a high fever above 104F (40C).
• You’re not able to keep liquids down for more than 24 hours.
• You’ve been vomiting for more than 2 days.
• You have blood in your vomit or bowel movements.
• You have severe abdominal cramping or abdominal pain.
• Your symptoms have been going on for more than 7-10 days.
• You have signs of dehydration such as dry mouth, excessive thirst, dark yellow urine, less frequent urination, lightheadedness or dizziness, and severe weakness.

Keep in mind that while most forms of food poisoning aren’t serious, a type of food poisoning called botulism, which is caused by a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum, can be fatal. This bacterium produces toxins that affect the nervous system. Seek medical attention immediately if you have botulism symptoms such as blurred vision, double vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, or other neuromuscular symptoms.

References

1. https://www.ucihealth.org/blog/2016/01/stomach-flu-or-food-poisoning
2. https://ask. usda.gov/s/article/What-are-the-signs-of-food-spoilage#
3. https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/foodborne-germs.html
4. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/viral-gastroenteritis/symptoms-causes

Viral gastroenteritis (stomach flu) – Symptoms & causes

Overview

Viral gastroenteritis is an intestinal infection that includes signs and symptoms such as watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea or vomiting, and sometimes fever.

The most common way to develop viral gastroenteritis — often called stomach flu — is through contact with an infected person or by consuming contaminated food or water. If you’re otherwise healthy, you’ll likely recover without complications. But for infants, older adults and people with compromised immune systems, viral gastroenteritis can be deadly.

There’s no effective treatment for viral gastroenteritis, so prevention is key. Avoid food and water that may be contaminated and wash your hands thoroughly and often.

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Symptoms

Although it’s commonly called stomach flu, gastroenteritis isn’t the same as influenza. The flu (influenza) affects only your respiratory system — your nose, throat and lungs. Gastroenteritis, on the other hand, attacks your intestines, causing signs and symptoms such as:

• Watery, usually nonbloody diarrhea — bloody diarrhea usually means you have a different, more severe infection
• Nausea, vomiting or both
• Stomach cramps and pain
• Occasional muscle aches or headache
• Low-grade fever

Depending on the cause, viral gastroenteritis symptoms may appear within 1-3 days after you’re infected and can range from mild to severe. Symptoms usually last just a day or two, but occasionally they may last up to 14 days.

Because the symptoms are similar, it’s easy to confuse viral diarrhea with diarrhea caused by bacteria, such as Clostridioides difficile, salmonella and Escherichia coli, or parasites, such as giardia.

Viral gastroenteritis

The stomach, small intestine and large intestine (colon) are part of your digestive tract, which processes the foods you eat. Viral gastroenteritis is an inflammation of these organs caused by a virus.

When to see a doctor

If you’re an adult, call your health care provider if:

• You’re not able to keep liquids down for 24 hours
• You’ve been vomiting or having diarrhea for more than two days
• You’re vomiting blood
• You’re dehydrated — signs of dehydration include excessive thirst, dry mouth, deep yellow urine or little or no urine, and severe weakness, dizziness or lightheadedness
• You notice blood in your bowel movements
• You have severe stomach pain
• You have a fever above 104 F (40 C)

For infants and children

See your child’s health care provider right away if your child:

• Has a fever of 102 F (38. 9 C) or higher
• Seems tired or very irritable
• Is in a lot of discomfort or pain
• Has bloody diarrhea
• Seems dehydrated — watch for signs of dehydration in sick infants and children by comparing how much they drink and urinate with how much is normal for them, and watching for signs such as a dry mouth, thirst and crying without tears

If you have an infant, remember that while spitting up may be an everyday occurrence for your baby, vomiting is not. Babies vomit for a variety of reasons, many of which may require medical attention.

Call your baby’s doctor right away if your baby:

• Has vomiting that is frequent
• Hasn’t had a wet diaper in six hours
• Has bloody stools or severe diarrhea
• Has a sunken soft spot (fontanel) on the top of his or her head
• Has a dry mouth or cries without tears
• Is unusually sleepy, drowsy or unresponsive

Causes

You’re most likely to get viral gastroenteritis when you eat or drink contaminated food or water. You may also be likely to get gastroenteritis if you share utensils, towels or food with someone who has one of the viruses that cause the condition.

Many viruses can cause gastroenteritis, including:

• Noroviruses. Both children and adults are affected by noroviruses, the most common cause of foodborne illness worldwide. Norovirus infection can sweep through families and communities. It’s especially likely to spread among people in confined spaces.

  In most cases, you pick up the virus from contaminated food or water. But it can also spread between people who are in close contact or who share food. You can also get the virus by touching a surface that’s been contaminated with norovirus and then touching your mouth.

• Rotavirus. Worldwide, this is the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in children, who are usually infected when they put their fingers or other objects contaminated with the virus into their mouths. It can also spread through contaminated food. The infection is most severe in infants and young children.

  Adults infected with rotavirus may not have symptoms, but can still spread the illness. This is of particular concern in institutional settings such as nursing homes because adults with the virus unknowingly can pass the virus to others. A vaccine against viral gastroenteritis is available in some countries, including the United States, and appears to be effective in preventing the infection.

Some shellfish, especially raw or undercooked oysters, also can make you sick. Contaminated drinking water is a cause of viral diarrhea. But in many cases the virus is passed when someone with a virus handles food you eat without washing his or her hands after using the toilet.

Risk factors

Gastroenteritis occurs all over the world and can affect people of all ages.

People who may be more susceptible to gastroenteritis include:

• Young children. Children in child care centers or elementary schools may be especially vulnerable because it takes time for a child’s immune system to mature.
• Older adults. Adult immune systems tend to become less efficient later in life. Older adults in nursing homes are vulnerable because their immune systems weaken. They also live in close contact with others who may pass along germs.
• Schoolchildren or dormitory residents. Anywhere that groups of people come together in close quarters can be an environment for an intestinal infection to get passed.
• Anyone with a weakened immune system. If your resistance to infection is low — for instance, if your immune system is compromised by HIV/AIDS, chemotherapy or another medical condition — you may be especially at risk.

Each gastrointestinal virus has a season when it’s most active. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, for instance, you’re more likely to have rotavirus or norovirus infections in the winter and spring.

Complications

The main complication of viral gastroenteritis is dehydration — a severe loss of water and essential salts and minerals. If you’re healthy and drink enough to replace fluids you lose from vomiting and diarrhea, dehydration shouldn’t be a problem.

Infants, older adults and people with weakened immune systems may become severely dehydrated when they lose more fluids than they can replace. Hospitalization might be needed so that lost fluids can be replaced through an IV in their arms. Dehydration can rarely lead to death.

Prevention

The best way to prevent the spread of intestinal infections is to follow these precautions:

• Get your child vaccinated. A vaccine against gastroenteritis caused by the rotavirus is available in some countries, including the United States. Given to children in the first year of life, the vaccine appears to be effective in preventing severe symptoms of this illness.

• Wash your hands thoroughly. And make sure your children do, too. If your children are older, teach them to wash their hands, especially after using the toilet.

  Wash your hands after changing diapers and before preparing or eating food, too. It’s best to use warm water and soap and to rub hands well for at least 20 seconds. Wash around cuticles, beneath fingernails and in the creases of the hands. Then rinse thoroughly. Carry sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer for times when soap and water aren’t available.

• Use separate personal items around your home. Avoid sharing eating utensils, drinking glasses and plates. Use separate towels in the bathroom.
• Prepare food safely. Wash all your fruits and vegetables before eating them. Clean kitchen surfaces before preparing food on them. Avoid preparing food if you’re sick.
• Keep your distance. Avoid close contact with anyone who has the virus, if possible.
• Disinfect hard surfaces. If someone in your home has viral gastroenteritis, disinfect hard surfaces, such as counters, faucets and doorknobs, with a mixture of 5-25 tablespoons (73 to 369 milliliters) of household bleach to 1 gallon (3. 8 liters) of water.
• Avoid touching laundry that may have been exposed to a virus. If someone in your home has viral gastroenteritis, wear gloves while touching laundry. Wash clothing and bedding in hot water and dry them on the hottest setting. Wash your hands well after touching laundry.
• Check out your child care center. Make sure the center has separate rooms for changing diapers and preparing or serving food. The room with the diaper-changing table should have a sink as well as a sanitary way to dispose of diapers.

Take precautions when traveling

When you’re traveling in other countries, you can become sick from contaminated food or water. You may be able to reduce your risk by following these tips:

• Drink only well-sealed bottled or carbonated water.
• Avoid ice cubes because they may be made from contaminated water.
• Use bottled water to brush your teeth.
• Avoid raw food — including peeled fruits, raw vegetables and salads — that has been touched by human hands.
• Avoid undercooked meat and fish.

More Information

What to do in case of poisoning / Articles / Newslab.Ru

In the fall, as a rule, doctors begin to talk about the second seasonal wave of poisoning associated with eating not fresh fruits and vegetables, but canned foods. It is important to clearly know the symptoms of specific poisoning, so that in case of an undesirable effect from the eaten canned food, we can help ourselves or those around us before the doctors arrive.

At the slightest suspicion of poisoning, first of all, you need to call an ambulance. The victim must be laid on the bed, even if he feels fine.

Types of food poisoning

Mushroom poisoning

Symptoms appear after 5-7 hours (if poisonous mushrooms are in the jar, then much faster): convulsions, acute pain in the abdomen, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, slow pulse. Need immediate hospitalization.

If you are in the country, before the doctors arrive, you can do a gastric lavage, an enema with the addition of chamomile infusion (a tablespoon of flowers per 300 ml of water). After that, give the patient a laxative, warm him up, make him drink strong tea. Put a cold compress on your head, a heating pad on your stomach.

Poisoning with compote and jam

Symptoms appear after 7-8 hours: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, shortness of breath. Rinse the stomach with salted water or a weak solution of potassium permanganate, it is necessary to give a laxative, make an enema. When the vomiting stops, give an activated charcoal tablet (you can replace it with kefir or egg white). Plentiful drinking is recommended. After that, it is better to starve for a day, and then switch to soups and decoctions.

Botulism

“Risk groups” – pickled and salted mushrooms, rolled up in jars under sealed lids, squash, eggplant and other types of homemade caviar, as well as mixed canned food (for example, vegetable hodgepodge with mushrooms). The first signs of the disease are visual impairment (double vision, fog), dilated pupils, a feeling of dryness and scratching in the throat, spasms of the muscles of the tongue. When you try to drink water, the liquid pours out through the nose.

The illness makes itself felt 12 hours later (sometimes a day or two) after tasting spoiled canned food. Call an ambulance right away! If the victim is not taken to the hospital, death from respiratory paralysis may occur. Before the arrival of the doctors, wash the stomach with a warm 2% soda solution, give the patient a laxative.

To avoid encounters with less dangerous, but no less unpleasant bacteria, doctors recommend paying attention to the following products

• Boiled rice that has been kept warm for a long time. In it, you can find the bacillus Echinocereus (Bacillus Cereus), which causes vomiting an hour after eating, later – diarrhea. With already known procedures, recovery occurs quickly. And so that poisoning does not happen, rice must be cooled and kept in the refrigerator.
• With blood dripping from raw poultry, Campylobacter (Campylobacterjejuni) can get on already cooked food, then you are provided with pain in the abdomen, nausea, bloody diarrhea. Symptoms appear within 2-6 and last up to 10 days. Only doctors can solve your problems here.
• Clostridium (Clostridium Perfringens) thrives in minced meat, gravy or stuffing over low heat or in a warm place. Cramps in the lower abdomen, diarrhea and headache, perhaps the temperature will pass in a day. “Ambulance” will alleviate your condition faster.
• Up to 10 days you can suffer with similar symptoms in case of E. coli (Escherichia Coli) poisoning, which feels good in uncooked meat patties and other minced meat products. This serious form of poisoning is treated only in hospitals.
• Salmonella is commonly ingested from raw eggs, undercooked poultry, and cooked food left out of the refrigerator for several hours.
• Staphylococcus (Staphylococcus) easily gets on food from infected people. Sources of poisoning are ham, poultry and baked goods with cream. Symptoms of poisoning by these types of bacteria are the same: pain in the lower abdomen, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, chills, weakness, dizziness. Do not try to be treated without medical help.

If symptoms of food poisoning appear, one should try to remember what food could be of poor quality and not throw away its leftovers. This will help determine which bacterium caused your illness, and, therefore, doctors will be able to help you without waiting for the results of bacteriological laboratories.

Acids and drugs

If toxic liquids come into contact with eyes, rinse immediately with cool water.

If poisons have entered the stomach, induce vomiting to expel them. Do repeated gastric lavages to remove all the poison. Between calls to vomiting, you need to make the victim drink 3-4 glasses of water. In case of drug poisoning, the stomach is best washed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. In case of poisoning with methyl alcohol, a solution of baking soda is used to wash the stomach. But it is impossible to induce vomiting in case of poisoning with caustic substances, because during the reverse movement along the esophagus, its mucous membrane is re-injured.

Vomiting should not be induced in those who have lost consciousness. You need to make sure that the victim does not suffocate. They turn him on his stomach or on his side and hang his head down, supporting him with his hand.

In case of poisoning with caustic liquids, the victim is given to drink egg yolks loosened in water (6 pieces per 0.5 liters of water).

In case of poisoning with acids, in no case should you give a soda solution to drink!

After gastric lavage, pre-crushed activated charcoal tablets should be taken.

Place a heating pad with ice, a towel soaked in cold water, or something cold on your head. This will reduce the effect of the poison on the brain.

The patient’s body temperature must be measured. With paralytic poisoning, the temperature usually drops. In this case, the victim is wrapped warmly. At an elevated temperature, ice is placed on the inguinal regions, where large blood vessels pass, and cold water is given to drink.

If you do not have to rely on medical assistance, then after activated charcoal, the victim is given Glauber’s salt. It prevents fluid from being absorbed by the intestines. You need to dilute a tablespoon of salt in half a glass of warm water.

Alcohol poisoning

Alcohol is characterized by a psychotropic property, as it has a narcotic effect on the central nervous system. It leads to inhibition of the processes of excitation and absorption of oxygen.

At the beginning, there are signs of neurological disorders, patients have no contact with others, pain sensitivity disappears. If intoxication continues, then a deep coma sets in – there is a complete loss of consciousness, all reflexes are lost, the work of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems is disturbed.

Recovery is slow, but if there is no improvement within 3 hours, then the patient has other diseases. Most often, the patient’s serious condition is based on a traumatic brain injury or cerebrovascular accident.

Emergency

Prior to hospitalization, gastric lavage, airway clearance, and humidified oxygen should be given. Alcohol surrogates include substances that are prepared on the basis of ethyl alcohol or other alcohols (methyl, isoamyl). They are much more harmful.

Methyl (wood) alcohol poisoning is very common. It causes damage to the central nervous system, the optic nerve in the body and can contribute to the onset of blindness.

It is necessary to transport the patient to the toxicology department as soon as possible. First aid – a glass of vodka (ethyl alcohol in the body replaces methyl alcohol in biochemical reactions).

Newslab.ru

Materials from the sites www.mosmedclinic.ru and www.alladvice. ru were used in preparing the article

No regrets: doctors told about the intestinal form of “Omicron” | Articles

When infected with the Omicron coronavirus strain, nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite develop much more often than with Delta, Russian doctors recorded . According to the observations of specialists from the Research Institute of Gabrichevsky Rospotrebnadzor, about 30% of patients complain of frequent, watery stools. And more often than not, children suffer from such problems. In some infected people, the disease occurs exclusively in the intestinal form, without the usual cough and runny nose. In such cases, the diagnosis can be made only with the help of special tests, the doctors emphasized. Therefore, if atypical symptoms appear, it is necessary to immediately contact medical institutions, experts advised.

Got to the guts

Although there is now a decline in the incidence of coronavirus in Russia, researchers continue to analyze the symptoms of the new Omicron strain. And today there is still no accurate data on the features of its course. However, it is already known that with the spread of Omicron, gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite) began to appear much more often than when infected with the Delta strain. This was reported to Izvestia by the Deputy Director for Clinical Work of the Moscow Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology named after V.I. G.N. Gabrichevsky Rospotrebnadzor, doctor of medical sciences Tatyana Ruzhentsova.

– With the very first Wuhan strain, we also noted many cases accompanied by diarrhea . Now there are more of them. According to our observations, about 30% of patients complain of frequent, watery stools, 4-6 times a day , she said. – Some of them, more often in children, have a decrease in appetite, nausea.

Photo: TASS/Elena Afonina

According to Tatyana Ruzhentsova, in the youngest patients the disease is often accompanied by vomiting, which is especially pronounced on the first day of illness.

At the same time, in some cases, doctors can talk about the intestinal form of coronavirus caused by Omicron, which occurs without respiratory symptoms. Most often, the infection occurs in this way in children of the first three years of life.

– But the isolated intestinal form is rare. Most patients with severe gastrointestinal symptoms also have respiratory symptoms: redness and itching in the throat, nasal congestion and discharge, coughing, Tatyana Ruzhentsova noted.

Diagnostic difficulties

Intestinal symptoms of the disease when infected with Omicron manifest themselves in more than 50% of patients , Ekaterina Melnikova, head of the clinical diagnostic department of the clinical hospital on the Yauza of the Medscan Group of Companies, gastroenterologist Yekaterina Melnikova, told Izvestia.

“An objective assessment of the statistical data does not allow the fact that many patients, on their own or on the recommendation of a doctor, start taking antibacterial drugs from the first symptoms of the disease,” the specialist explained the difference in estimates of the manifestation of intestinal symptoms.

Most often, patients report episodes of recurrent diarrhea, rarely nausea, not accompanied by pain. These unpleasant effects pass within a few days, the physician said. However, in general, the Omicron strain most often manifests itself with respiratory symptoms and intoxication, she added.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Aleksey Sukhorukov

“Symptoms are possible only from the gastrointestinal tract, but this is more likely to be an exception,” said Ekaterina Melnikova. – Patients with chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are at an increased risk of exacerbation of the existing pathology against the background of a transmitted infection.

New mutations of the virus allowed it to be more contagious, and the duration and severity of the disease decreased, which also reduced the frequency of seeking medical help, Tatyana Nalegach, a therapist at the NAKFF medical clinic, told Izvestia. Therefore, it is more difficult to analyze the next rise in the incidence.