Food Poisoning Can Cause Long-Term Complications

January 2008

A troubling trend has emerged amid the increasing amount of contaminated foods recalled from the market. Scientists have discovered that E. coli and other foodborne illnesses can cause serious health problems months and years after the initial bout has passed.

Scientists describe the onset of high blood pressure, kidney damage, and kidney failure occurring 10 to 20 years after an episode of E.coli poisoning. Arthritis struck patients six months or more after a bout of salmonella or shigella, and a mysterious paralysis can attack people a month after displaying mild symptoms of campylobacter.

This month, the consumer advocacy group Safe Tables Our Priority is beginning the first national registry of food poisoning survivors with long-term health problems. According to the Centers for Disease Control, foodborne illnesses cause 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths a year.