Food poisoning linked to future health problems
New information released is pointing at a link between prior food poisoning and health problems later experienced months or years later. The CDC says foodborne illnesses cause 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths a year. E. coli and other food borne illnesses are being linked to such health problems as high blood pressure, kidney damage or even kidney failure experienced by people 10 to 20 years later who survived severe E. coli infections as children. Others are experiencing arthritis after suffering from salmonella and shigella. Some are suffering from a mysterious paralysis that attacks people who just had mild symptoms of campylobacter. Donna Rosenbaum of the consumer advocacy group STOP (Safe Tables Our Priority) hears every week complaints from patients with health problems that they suspect or have been told are related to food poisoning years earlier. One woman survived an E. coli poisoning at 8 and had to have her colon removed in her 20s. Others have developed diabetes because of an inflamed pancreas caused by foodborne illness. Some parents wonder if their child’s learning difficulties are linked to it. STOP this month is beginning the first national registry of food-poisoning survivors with long-term health problems to assist scientists with research into the issue.
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