Personal Injury Law

Food poisoning, listeria, bacteria, death and miscarriages.

By Steve Lombardi

It can take between one and eight weeks for the symptoms of food poisoning to become acute.

Health officials in Massachusetts have reported several deaths and miscarriages as a result of listeria. Listeria is a bacterium that is often found in raw foods, like meat, vegetables along with cheese and cold cuts.

Listeria invades and grows best in the central nervous system among immune-compromised persons, causing meningitis and/or encephalitis (brain infection). In pregnant women, the fetus can become infected, leading to spontaneous abortion, stillbirths, or sepsis (blood infection) in infancy.

It can take between one and eight weeks for the symptoms to become acute. These symptoms can include: fever, muscle aches, and gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea. If infection spreads to the nervous system, symptoms such as headache, stiff neck, and loss of balance, confusion, alteration of consciousness or convulsions can occur. With brain involvement, listeriosis may mimic a stroke. For some reason pregnant women are most susceptible.

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on April 25, 2008 (boomark / email).