Ascariasis

An estimated 807-1,221 million people in the world are infected with Ascaris lumbricoides(sometimes called just "Ascaris"). Ascaris, hookworm, and whipworm are known as soil-transmitted helminths (parasitic worms). Together, they account for a major burden of disease worldwide. Ascariasis is now uncommon in the United States.

Ascaris lives in the intestine and Ascaris eggs are passed in the feces of infected persons. If the infected person defecates outside (near bushes, in a garden, or field) or if the feces of an infected person are used as fertilizer, eggs are deposited on soil. They can then mature into a form that is infective. Ascariasis is caused by ingesting eggs. This can happen when hands or fingers that have contaminated dirt on them are put in the mouth or by consuming vegetables or fruits that have not been carefully cooked, washed or peeled.

People infected with Ascaris often show no symptoms. If symptoms do occur they can be light and include abdominal discomfort. Heavy infections can cause intestinal blockage and impair growth in children. Other symptoms such as cough are due to migration of the worms through the body. Ascariasis is treatable with medication prescribed by your health care provider.

Image: Left/Right: Fertilized eggs of A. lumbricoides in unstained wet mounts of stool. Center: Adult female A. lumbricoides. Credit: DPDx, Orange County Public Health Laboratory, Santa Ana, CA.

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/ascariasis/

Causes of food poisoning

Pathogens such as Salmonella, Campylobacter and E. coli may be found in our food-producing animals. Care in processing, transport, storage, preparing and serving of food is necessary to reduce the risk of contamination.
Food poisoning bacteria can multiply very quickly, particularly in certain conditions. The factors that affect bacterial growth include:

• Time – in ideal conditions, one bacterium can multiply to more than two million in seven hours.
• Temperature – food poisoning bacteria grow best in the temperature range between 5 °C and 60 °C. This is referred to as the ‘temperature danger zone’. This means that we need to keep perishable food either very cold or very hot, in order to avoid food poisoning.
• Nutrients – most foods contain enough nutrients for bacteria to grow. This is especially the case with potentially high-risk foods such as dairy and egg products, meat and poultry and seafood.
• Water – bacteria need water for their growth. Without water, growth may slow down or stop. That is why dried foods do not spoil.
• pH – is the measure of acidity or alkalinity and is also important for controlling bacterial growth. Low pH (acid conditions) generally stops bacterial growth, but where the pH of food is neutral, as is the case for many foods, most bacteria grow quite well.

Source: http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Food_poisoning_how_to_prevent_it

SA Pratima 26 April 2013

Welcome to this site

Hi All,

Thank you for helping me test this site :)

Pratima

SA Pratima 26 Jan 2013

Self Assessment Reflection

(1) These are the difficult areas I would like to revisit and learn:

Identifying symptoms of food borne diseases and factors that affect microbial growth in food.

Peer's Observation
Shortfalls observed by group member:
Vijayan
Yes I agree with you. 
But there is also another area that you were not clear i.e. Microbiological standards. Just my 2cents worth!

Jonathan
What about interpreting the lab data? You did not indicate how much your know. Do you really know or you are clueless about it?

Action Plan
Thanks for your comments. I intend to look through the study material on Microbiological standards that the lecturer had uploaded in Olive.

Storing food to avoid food poisoning

When you store food:

• Separate raw food from cooked food, and store raw food at the bottom of the fridge to avoid juices dripping onto and contaminating other food.
• Check your fridge temperature is below 5 °C and your freezer temperature is below -15 °C.
• Allow cooked foods to cool to room temperature (about 21 °C) before storing in the refrigerator. (This should not take more than two hours – cooling will be quicker if you put the hot food into a number of smaller containers rather than leaving it in one large one.) This prevents the refrigerator temperature from rising and reduces the risk of bacterial growth in all food stored in the fridge.
• Cover all food with lids, tin foil or plastic wrap.
• Don’t store food in opened tin cans.

Source: http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Food_poisoning_how_to_prevent_it

SA Suvarna January 2013