Food Poisoning - How to Prevent Hamburger Disease

Every year people die from food poisoning. However it's easy to avoid with a little care and a lot of cooking.

If your child eats food contaminated by bacteria, food poisoning can occur causing abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fever. Several types of bacteria can lead to food poisoning including, among others, salmonella, which is most commonly found in uncooked meat and poultry, eggs, and un-pasteurized milk. Botulism can be a deadly food poisoning caused by bacteria often found in improperly canned food and sometimes, honey. Other bacteria that cause food poisoning are staphylococcus-aureus and clostridium-perfringens usually transferred by a food handler, making hand washing vital to healthy food preparation.

E-coli bacteria cause one of the most serious forms of food poisoning. Often referred to as 'hamburger disease', it can cause "the more serious form of gastroenteritis", explains pediatrician Dr. Aliza Lipson. Generally a child will ingest e-coli "typically from undercooked hamburger meat, but it can come from other sources as well." Hamburger disease can be deadly, so if your child is vomiting and has bloody stool, Dr. Lipson stresses you must immediately call a physician. "Children can die from it, and the other side of the coin is that they can completely recover and never look back. The dangerous part is that sometimes the kidneys get involved and children can go into renal failure. There's other systems that can be involved but it's usually the renal problems that are the long lasting ones."

Infectious disease specialist, Dr. Ron Gold says prevention of hamburger disease is quite simple. First don't let raw hamburger come into contact with any other uncooked food such as salads. Second, wash your hands well before and after preparing raw hamburger, and wash all utensils and countertops with hot, soapy water after they've come into contact with the raw meat. And make sure you store ground beef properly. Dr. Gold says "the problem with meat is that if the meat isn't refrigerated or stored properly the bacteria can multiply so that you can get a lot of the toxins released, and then if the meat isn't cooked properly you can get sick. We have to get out of the habit of eating rare hamburger. To be safe it should not be pink at all."

Treatment for food poisoning can include antibiotics. But the best bet is prevention through cleanliness and thorough cooking. Finally, when you're finished cooking, be sure to store those leftovers immediately, and when you go to reuse them ensure that they are thoroughly reheated before serving.