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Food toxic infections
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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Food toxic infections (food bacterial poisoning; Latin: toxicoinfectiones alimentariae) are a polyetiological group of acute intestinal infections that occur after eating foods contaminated with opportunistic bacteria, in which the microbial mass of pathogens and their toxins has accumulated.
ICD-10 codes
- A05. Other bacterial food poisoning.
- A05.0. Staphylococcal food poisoning.
- A05.2. Food poisoning caused by Clostridium perfringens (Clostridium welchii).
- A05.3. Food poisoning due to Vibrio Parahaemolyticus.
- A05.4. Food poisoning due to Bacillus cereus.
- A05.8. Other specified bacterial food poisoning.
- A05.9. Bacterial food poisoning, unspecified.
What causes food poisoning?
Food toxic infections include a large number of etiologically different, but pathogenetically and clinically similar diseases.
The unification of food toxic infections into a separate nosological form is caused by the need to unify measures to combat their spread and the effectiveness of the syndromic approach to treatment.
Sources of pathogens can be humans and animals (patients, carriers), as well as environmental objects (soil, water). According to the ecological and epidemiological classification, PTI caused by opportunistic microflora belong to the group of anthroponoses (staphylococcosis, enterococcosis) and sapronoses - water (aeromoniasis, plesiomonosis, NAG infection, parahemolytic and albinolytic infections, edwardsiellosis) and soil (cereus infection, clostridiosis, pseudomonosis, klebsiellosis, proteosis, morganellosis, enterobacteriosis, erwiniosis, hafnia and providence infections).
The mechanism of transmission of the pathogen is feco-oral; the route of transmission is food. The factors of transmission are varied. Usually food toxicoinfection occurs after the consumption of food contaminated with microorganisms brought in by dirty hands during preparation; undisinfected water; finished products (if the rules of storage and sale are violated in conditions that promote the reproduction of pathogens and the accumulation of their toxins).
What are the symptoms of food poisoning?
Food toxic infections have an incubation period that lasts from 2 hours to 1 day; in food toxic infections of staphylococcal etiology - up to 30 minutes. Food toxic infections are acute, the duration of this period is from 12 hours to 5 days, after which the recovery period begins. Symptoms of food toxic infections are characterized by general intoxication, dehydration and gastrointestinal syndrome.
The first symptoms of food poisoning are abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, chills, fever, and loose stools. Acute gastritis is indicated by a tongue coated with a white coating; vomiting (sometimes uncontrollable) of food eaten the day before, then mucus mixed with bile; heaviness and pain in the epigastric region. In 4-5% of patients, only signs of acute gastritis are detected. Abdominal pain can be diffuse, cramping, or, less often, constant. Diarrhea, which occurs in 95% of patients, indicates the development of enteritis. The stool is abundant, watery, foul-smelling, light yellow or brown; it looks like swamp mud.
Where does it hurt?
How are food poisoning infections diagnosed?
Food toxicoinfections are diagnosed based on the clinical picture of the disease, the group nature of the disease, and the connection with the use of a certain product in violation of the rules for its preparation, storage, or sale. The decision to hospitalize a patient is made based on epidemiological and clinical data. In all cases, a bacteriological study should be conducted to exclude shigellosis, salmonellosis, yersiniosis, escherichiosis, and other acute intestinal infections. An urgent need for bacteriological and serological studies arises in cases of suspected cholera, group cases of the disease, and the occurrence of nosocomial outbreaks.
To confirm the diagnosis of "food toxicoinfection", it is necessary to isolate the same microorganism from the patient's feces and the remains of the suspicious product. In this case, the massiveness of growth, phage and antigen uniformity, antibodies to the isolated strain of microorganisms detected in convalescents are taken into account. The diagnosis of RA with an autostrain in paired sera and a 4-fold increase in titer (in proteosis, cereosis, enterococcosis) is of diagnostic value.
What do need to examine?
How to examine?
What tests are needed?
How are food poisoning infections treated?
Food toxic infections are treated in hospital if the patients have a severe or moderate course of the disease, provided that the individuals are socially disadvantaged, if the food toxic infection occurs at any degree of severity.
Patients are advised to adhere to a gentle diet (table no. 2, 4, 13), excluding dairy, canned foods, smoked foods, spicy and hot dishes, raw vegetables and fruits from the diet.