What are the signs and symptoms associated with foodborne disease?
Foodborne diseases usually cause gastrointestinal illness, meaning they affect your stomach or bowel. Signs and symptoms associated with gastrointestinal illness vary, depending upon several factors including the disease, the age and health status of the patient and how much of the particular pathogen was ingested (eaten). Typical signs and symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrheal illness and abdominal pain. Additional signs and symptoms may include fever, headache, malaise, a general feeling of being unwell, myalgia (muscle ache), loss of appetite, loss of weight, chills and dehydration. Certain signs and symptoms are usually associated with particular diseases, such as jaundice with hepatitis A. In addition, sometimes serious illness can follow a gastrointestinal illness. Examples of this include HUS, a severe kidney condition that can occur after illness caused by E. coli infections or Guillain-Barre syndrome, a nerve condition that occasionally follows illness with campylobacte
