The incidence of foodborne diseases is high in autumn and winter, and the heart disease enters from the mouth

Autumn and winter are the seasons for the high incidence of foodborne diseases. At this time, we should pay special attention to the problem of dietary hygiene and beware of diseases entering the mouth. So what is foodborne illness? And how to prevent it?

Foodborne diseases are not easy to attract attention

"Foodborne disease refers to an infectious or toxic disease caused by toxic and harmful substances that enter the human body through feeding, which is commonly referred to as food poisoning by ordinary people. Patients with food poisoning generally have similar or identical clinical manifestations, usually showing digestive symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Food poisoning patients are not contagious to healthy people, that is to say, there is no direct infection between people. Xu Jin, deputy director of the Microbiology Laboratory of the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, introduced that these toxic and harmful substances can be bacterial food poisoning caused by common Salmonella, viral food poisoning caused by norovirus, animal poisoning caused by eating pufferfish, or plant food poisoning caused by eating poisonous mushrooms.

"Accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms is the leading cause of death from food poisoning in China." Xu Jin suggested that the causes of foodborne diseases in China are most common in bacteria and viral microorganisms, and most patients often do not need special antibiotic treatment to heal themselves, so it is not easy to attract the attention of the people. Usually, the smell of our nose that is not normal food should have will produce an instinctive stress response, and we can no longer eat it, which is a common self-protection instinct. "But whether the food is bad or not, in addition to whether the food is spoiled, the important thing is whether the food is safe, which is not a task that the nose can complete, so it is not scientific to judge with the nose, nor is it reliable." Xu Jin reminded that in fact, bacteria, viruses, heavy metal pollution, agricultural and veterinary drug residues and other harmful factors that affect food safety usually do not have an impact on the color and aroma of food, and we cannot judge whether food is safe through our noses or eyes. For example, ordinary people usually do not have the ability to identify wild poisonous mushrooms, so there are often people who mistakenly eat wild poisonous mushrooms to cause death incidents, and it may not be safe to see.

When exactly do we develop this uncomfortable feeling after eating? "The incubation period of common infectious foodborne diseases such as bacteria and viruses, that is, the time commonly referred to by ordinary people from eating food to the appearance of gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, varies according to the pathogen, usually after 2 to 8 hours of eating food." Xu Jin introduced, "If we mistakenly eat pig thyroid, adrenal glands and poisonous fish, animal food poisoning or chemical food poisoning caused by mistakenly eating pesticides and nitrites, the onset of the disease will usually be very fast, and the general incubation period is from a few minutes to 1 hour." Such poisoning should be treated with timely medical treatment and symptomatic treatment, including stopping eating suspicious foods, promptly inducing vomiting, gastric lavage, enema, and using special antidotes. ”

"Away from foodborne diseases, we should keep in mind the five points of food safety recommended by the World Health Organization, that is, keeping clean, separating raw and cooked, cooking thoroughly, maintaining the safe temperature of food, and using safe water and raw materials, we can ensure food safety and thus prevent the occurrence of foodborne diseases." Xu Jin reminded that in addition, we should also pay attention to the hygiene of tableware and develop a good habit of using public spoons and chopsticks for meals.

Autumn and winter are the high incidence of norovirus

In autumn and winter, there is a high incidence of acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus. "There are three main modes of norovirus transmission: through food transmission, drinking water transmission, and human-to-human contact. Among them, people are infected by ingesting food and drinking water contaminated by the virus, and the infected person discharges the virus through feces or vomit to pollute the environment, which in turn causes food and drinking water to be widely contaminated by the 'fecal-mouth' route, which is the main mode of transmission of norovirus. Jiang Tao, a researcher at the Microbiology Laboratory of the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, said that there are many types of food contaminated with norovirus in our daily life, such as bivalve shellfish (such as oysters, mussels, scallops, etc.), raw or unheated vegetables (especially green leafy vegetables such as spinach, lettuce and various sprouts), and berries (including strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc.) are the most common, followed by ready-to-eat meat products, dairy products, salads and baked foods. The results of the US study showed that among the foods that triggered foodborne norovirus infection, green leafy vegetables, fruits and dairy products caused 35%, 15% and 12% of the infections, respectively. Although norovirus gastroenteritis caused by dairy products has not been reported as much as shellfish and fruits and vegetables, 14 of the 20 norovirus infections caused by dairy products in the United States are caused by cheese, so cheese is a high-risk food in dairy products that causes norovirus infection.

Leafy greens, fruits and dairy products are the foods we eat every day, how are these foods contaminated with norovirus? "The way food is contaminated by norovirus is first, pollution from the source of planting and breeding, including watering vegetables and fruits with virus-containing sewage, shellfish breeding waters are polluted by norovirus, etc.; second, cross-contamination caused by improper operation of food in any part of the process of harvesting, production and processing, packaging, distribution, home preparation, etc., or artificial pollution caused by norovirus infected people." Jiang Tao introduced that to understand the way food is contaminated by norovirus, we must first understand how the environment is contaminated by norovirus.

In fact, there are many ways to source norovirus in the environment, such as wastewater discharge, human feces, etc. can cause water pollution. Bivalve shellfish represented by oysters are natural filter-feeding organisms that can accumulate 99 times more virions in their tissues than the surrounding environment, and if the farmed waters are contaminated with norovirus, it may lead to the contamination of farmed oysters. If the oysters contaminated with the virus are not heated thoroughly in cooking, especially in order to pursue taste, oysters are often eaten raw or mildly cooked, and consumers have a higher risk of contracting norovirus through oyster intake and a greater risk of disease. In addition, foods such as salads, coleslaws and berries are no longer heated or difficult to clean thoroughly before eating, and once contaminated with viruses, they are also prone to disease outbreaks. And because norovirus can be transmitted through close contact between people and people, there is a greater risk of secondary transmission of large-scale populations after human infection.

"People ingesting food or water contaminated with norovirus often causes acute gastroenteritis. The incubation period of the disease is generally 24 to 48 hours, the main clinical manifestations are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, low-grade fever and other symptoms, most cases appear nausea, vomiting and fever on the first day of the course, and diarrhea lasts longer, these symptoms usually disappear after 2 to 3 days. The course of norovirus infection is usually shorter, with an average duration of about 2 to 3 days, but the recovery of the elderly and patients with underlying disease is slower, the younger the age, the longer the course of the disease, and the average course of immunosuppressed patients or immunodeficiency is 7 days. In addition, there are cases of latent infection in healthy people, and in the epidemic season, the population with hidden infection is significantly higher than in the non-epidemic season. Jiang Tao reminded that human acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus can occur throughout the year, but the incidence is high in autumn and winter; people of all ages may be infected by norovirus and may be infected many times; all age groups in the population can be sick, but the elderly, children, immunodeficients and organ transplanters and people with underlying diseases are high-risk groups of norovirus infection; norovirus is the main pathogen causing viral diarrhea in children, and the outbreak sites of diseases are mainly in kindergartens, schools, cruise ships, Closed or semi-enclosed places such as nursing homes.

"To prevent norovirus infection, we mainly follow the five points of food safety recommended by the World Health Organization." Jiang Tao introduced that even if clean ingredients and water are used to make food, it is also necessary to keep the food production environment clean; the remaining food should be thoroughly heated before eating; the prepared food should be eaten as soon as possible, otherwise it needs to be stored at a safe temperature.

Source: People's Political Consultative Conference Daily