What is an incubation period and how does this relate to my bout of gastrointestinal illness/foodborne disease?
An incubation period is the amount of time it takes for signs and symptoms to appear. It is measured as the length of time between exposure to and the appearance of the first symptoms of illness. For example, a person eats a piece of undercooked chicken that is contaminated with Salmonella bacteria on Monday at 12pm. The person starts to feel sick on Tuesday at 2pm with diarrhea and stomach cramps. The incubation period is measured from Monday at 12pm, when the bacteria first entered the body, until Tuesday at 2pm, when they first started to feel sick. This person’s incubation period was 26 hours. The incubation period is important because it gives a specific timeframe in which an exposure most likely caused a disease. When the person ill with salmonellosis is interviewed by the health department, questions about foods eaten will focus on the three days before their illness started (Saturday at 2pm until Tuesday at 2pm) because the incubation period ranges up to 72 hours for salmonello
