Shishir Reza :
Food poisoning is a common, usually mild, but sometimes deadly illness. Typical symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, and diarrhea that occur suddenly (within 48 hours) after consuming a contaminated food or drink. Depending on the contaminant, fever and chills, bloody stools, dehydration, and nervous system damage may follow.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that in the United States, food poisoning causes about 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalisations, and up to 5,000 deaths each year. One of the most common bacterial forms of infection, the salmonellae organisms, account for $1 billion in medical costs and lost work time. Worldwide, diarrhoeal illnesses are among the leading causes of death.
Food Poisoning Causes:
More than 250 known diseases can be transmitted through food. The known causes of food poisoning can be divided into two categories: infectious agents and toxic agents. Infectious agents include viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Toxic agents include poisonous mushrooms, improperly prepared exotic foods (such as barracuda), or pesticides on fruits and vegetables. Food usually becomes contaminated from poor sanitation or preparation. Food handlers who do not wash their hands after using the bathroom or have infections themselves often cause contamination. Improperly packaged food stored at the wrong temperature also promotes contamination.
Food Poisoning Symptoms:
Symptoms of food poisoning depend on the type of contaminant and the amount eaten. The symptoms can develop rapidly, within 30 minutes, or slowly, worsening over days to weeks. Most of the common contaminants cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and abdominal cramping. Usually food poisoning is not serious, and the illness runs its course in 24-48 hours. In most cases the body is able to permanently recover after a short period of acute discomfort and illness. However, food borne illness can result in permanent health problems or even death, especially for people at high risk, including babies, young children, pregnant women (and their fetuses), elderly people, sick people and others with weak immune systems.
Food Poisoning as a Risk:
In disaster management point of view risk is defined when hazard interact with vulnerable areas, people, property and environment that is Risk=Chance × loss. When food poisoning breakout in a specific area then if the people of that area affected by this food borne disease and that also affect the property as well as the surrounding environment of that area then it is a risk for this community.
Food Poisoning as a Hazard:
We know that hazard is a potentially damaging physical threatening event or probability of occurrence of a potentially damaging phenomenon within a given time period an area and phenomenon or human activity that may cause the loss of the life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation. So that if we determine food poisoning as a hazard we can see food poisoning is a potentially damaging threatening biological event which can damage the physical health of the people of a community within a given time period which can disrupt the property as well as the environment of that specific area.
Hazard Assessment:
If we determine a specific area to asses this hazard named food poisoning, those areas may have the following assessment result: Geological condition of that area may have hot weather or subtropical area or a low lying poor region; The area may be affected by the frequent flood, scarcity of pure drinking water or fresh water, post disaster situation of the specific area may be out of control; The area may have the perfect environment for the vector which causes these food borne diseases; The area may poor which may not have any logistical technical support for the cerement of the patient; It may have dirty and poor environmental condition.
Capacity Assessment:
Capacity indicates a combination of all the strengths and resources available within a community society or organisation that can reduce the level of risk or the effects of a disaster. So this kind of assessment identifies the individual preventing capacity of the people of a community in specific given time. And it also identifies the capacity of the whole community with its institutional backgrounds.
Vulnerability and Capacity:
Vulnerability is the extent to which they can anticipate, cope with respond to and recover from its impact. It can also be defined as a set of condition and process resulting from physical, social, economical and environmental factors which increase the susceptibility of a community to the impact of hazard. People live in slum area which has the dirty condition; Economically they are poor so that peoples do not have the supply of pure food; Presence of social stratification; Presence of environmental refugees; Lack of security, educational levels, access to good governance, social equity degree of respect for human rights, knowledge Ethnic tribal, religious or political groupings; Unaccompanied children and women, the very young and the elderly, health, nutritional, and HIV status and physical disablement capacity.
Risks Prevention:
Sports drinks such as Gatorade and PowerAde are fine for adults if they are diluted with water because at full strength they contain too much sugar, which can worsen diarrhoea. Most food poisonings do not require the use of over-the-counter medicines to stop diarrhoea, but they are generally safe if used as directed. It is not recommended that these medications be given to children. If there is a question or concern, you should always check with a doctor.
Non Structural Prevention:
It includes, Safe shopping, Never choose torn or leaking packages, Do not buy foods past their “sell-by” or expiration dates, Safe storage of foods, Safe food preparation, Keep everything clean, Wash hands before and after handling raw meat and poultry, Thawing food safely, Allows slow, safe thawing. Make sure thawing juices do not drip on other foods, Safe cooking, Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold, Never leave food out more than two hours (or more than one hour in temperatures above 90°F), Bacteria that cause food poisoning grow rapidly at room temperature.
(Shishir Reza, Environmental Analyst and Associate Member, Bangladesh Economic Association)
