Foodborne Illness

FOODBORNE ILLNESS

Foodborne illness is defined as the sickness that some people experience when they eat contaminated foods. The disease is mostly caused by food exposure to unsafe temperature, poor personal hygiene and cross contamination. It has highly susceptible on population that is very young people, elderly, pregnant or lactating women and people who has impaired immune system due to cancer, AIDS, diabetes mellitus, or any medications that suppress response to infection.
According to the statistic, foodborne illnesses occur 40% from food retail, 15% from home, 5% from food processor, and 40% from others

 

Food hazards that cause foodborne illness can divided as:

1. Biological Hazards : bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi
2. Chemical Hazards: cleaning compounds, heavy metals, agricultural chemical, food additives and food allergens
3. Physical Hazards: fragment of glass, metal, jewelry, human air, etc.

 

Person who has foodborne illness has symptoms as following here:

• Headache
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Dehydration
• Abdominal pain
• Fever
• Fatigue

 

Classification of Foodborne Illness
Foodborne illness can devided as:
1. Infection
It is caused by eating food that contains living disease causing microorganisms.
2. Intoxication
It is caused by eating food that contains a harmful chemical or toxin produced by bacteria
3. Toxin-Mediated Infection
It is caused by eating food that contains harmful microorganisms that will produce a toxin once inside the human body.

 

There are the ways how to prevent foodborne illness:

• Practice good personal hygiene
• Prevent cross contamination
• Avoid temperature abuse by proper cold storage, proper thawing, proper cooking, proper cooling, proper reheating, and proper hot holding.

Thalassemia

THALASSEMIA

Thalassemia is defined as an blood disorder that is inhereted, pass down through families. It makes an abdornam form of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells and used to carry oxygen. Thalassemia results in excessive destruction of red blood cell and anemia. It's sometimes called as Mediterranean anemia, cooley's anemia, Beta thalassemia and Alpha Thalasemia.

Thalassemia is caused by a defect in a gene that control productions of Alpha globin and beta globin. Both of them is part of Hemoglobin. That's why thalasemia is devided into two main types: Alpha thalasemia and Beta thalasemia.

Alpha thalassemia occurs when the alpha globin proteins are missing, changed or mutated. It most common in person from southeast Asia, Middle Eas, China, and African descent. It can be Thalassemia major or Thalassemia Minor

Beta thalassemia occurs when the beta globin are missing, changed or mutated. This type occurs mostly in person of mediterranean and lesser extent in person of China, other Asians, and African Americans. Same as Alpha thalassemia, Beta thalassemia can also be Talassemia major or Thalassemia minor.

Thalassemia major occurs when the defective gene is inherited from both parents while in thalassemia minor, the defective is inherited only from one parent.

Symptoms:

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  Stillbirth (death of the unborn baby during birth)
• 
  
  Severe anemia
• 
  
  Face bone deformities
• 
  
  Failure on growt
• 
  
  Fatique
• 
  
  Jaundice (Yellow skin)
• 
  
  Shorness of breath

How To Diagnose Thalassemia

Thalassemia can be diagnosed by a physical exam, blood sample, or mutational analysis.

On physical examination, patien with thalassemia may have a swollen (enlarged) spleen. On blood examination it can be found as small and abnormally shaped of red blood cells, less of complete blood count (anemia), and abnormal hemoglobin on hemoglobin electrophoresis. If the deases is not defined by hemoglobin electrophoresis then mutational analysis can help to detect alpha thalassemia.

Treatments

Treatmen involves blood transfusions and folate supplements. When blood transfusions are done, patient should not take iron supplements to avoide high amount of iron in the body that can be harmful. Chelation therapy will be dont to remove iron from the body especialy to a patient who receives significant numbers of blood transfusions. Bone marrow transplant is one of treatment for some patients, especially children.

When thalassemia is not treated properly it can be a trigger for heart failure and liver problems.

For prevention of thalassemia it is a good reason for parent to get genetic counseling and prenatal screening especially for those who has family history of this condition.

Sodium Intakes

SODIUM INTAKES

Sodium is a nutrient can be found in table salt and many others food. Human body needs some sodium to maintain metabolism, but too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure as a major risk factor for stroke, heart disease and kidney disease. Most people consume more sodium than the body needs.

The function sodium in the body is to regulate fluids and blood pressure, and to keep muscle and nerves running properly. 1,500 mg sodium intake per day is adequate to promote good health in adult. The Tolerable Upper Intake Level (highest intake level that no risk of adverse health effects) is 2,300 mg per day. The fact that most people get much more sodium then they need to maintain good health especially in young children and adolescents.

Source of Sodium
Salt and sodium:
1 teaspoonful = 6 grams of salt = 2400 mg of sodium.


Sodium or sodium chloride is found in table salt. People consume most of sodium from prepackaged, ready-to-eat food, rather than from salt added at the table or in home cooking. Fast food products commonly contain high amounts of sodium. Some of foods are high in sodium such as soups, pizza, sandwiches and burgers, frozen and ready-to-eat foods, cheese, gravies and sauces, processed luncheon meats, and snack foods (crackers, potato chips, pretzels, and nachos)

High sodium is associated with risk of high blood pressure. High blood pressure is a major risk for stroke, heart disease and kidney disease. There are tips how to minimize your risk:

Choose foods from each food group that are lower in sodium and preparing foods with little or no added salt
Identify sodium contain on nutrition label. Read it and choose the lower one.
Choose less often prepackaged foods and meals purchased outside home
Choose fresh and unprocessed foods and prepare them at home as well as choose plenty of fruits and vegetables
No need to add salt to children’s food
Ask for nutrition information to see ho much sodium is in the food when you dining out at a fast food restaurant

It is fair to look for foods with claims “salt-free (lest than 5 mg of sodium per serving), “low sodium” (140 mg of sodium or less per serving), or “reduced in sodium” (at least 25 percent less than the regular product).

Common Cold

Common Cold

Common cold is the condition that includes a runny nose, nasal congestion, and sneezing. Sometimes you feel sore throat, cough, headache or other symptoms. It can be caused by over 200 kind of viruses. Alternatives name for common cold are upper respiratory infection-viral and cold.

Common cold can spread around year, however, it mostly occurs in the winter or during the rainy season in areas where there is no winter. You can catch a common cold by inhaling the virus from someone who sneeze or by touching your nose, eye, or mouth after touching something contaminated by the virus. The disease is most contagious for the first 2-3 days of a cold, and not contagious at all after 7-10 days.

If you got common cold, you will have symptoms as followed here:

Nasal congestion
Sneezing
Runny nose
Low fever or no fever
Irritated nose or scratchy throat
Thicker secretion or perhaps yellow or green within 1 to 3 days or a week.

Depending on virus caused the disease, you may have:

Cough
Decreased appetite
Muscle aches
Headache
Sore throat
Postnasal drip
Some possible complications are bronchitis, ear infection, pneumonia, sinusitis, and worsening of asthma.

Treatment

It is good to get plenty of rest and drinks lots of fluids. Over the counter medication cold remedies may help you feel better. Antibiotics are not recommended since they will not help and may make the situation worse. In addition, thick yellow or green nasal discharge is not a reason for antibiotics, unless it doesn’t get better within 10-14 days that may be a sinus infection or sinusitis. Some new medicines can make runny nose completely clear in a day but it is unclear whether the benefits ok or not. Some alternative treatments are Echinacea, vitamin C, and zinc.