Health Law

Salmonella Illness: Just a little diarrhea, right?

By Marler Clark

I guess you've got to be in this business to get frustrated when people think of foodborne disease as being akin to "an upset stomach" or what everybody calls "the flu."  That, or you've got to be unlucky enough to have known or loved somebody who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome or some other horrible manifestation of foodborne disease. 

Betty Desjarlais was a perfect example of somebody in good health whose Salmonella illness quickly killed her.  Read a brief summary of Betty's illness and her untimely death.  This is not a frequent result in Salmonella cases, but it serves well to illustrate the risks that we really do face . . . which is particularly alarming when you consider the true scope of these outbreaks--e.g. the recent sprouts outbreaks.  There are many more people who are sick than the 150 or so illnesses that investigating health authorities include in their tallies of confirmed cases.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on May 04, 2009 (boomark / email).