What do staphylococcus eat

Poultry and egg products. Salads such as egg, tuna, chicken, potato, and macaroni. Bakery products such as cream-filled pastries, cream pies, and chocolate eclairs. Sandwich fillings. Milk and dairy products. What are the symptoms? How is staph food poisoning diagnosed? How is it treated? How can you prevent staph food poisoning? Shop safely. Bag raw meat, poultry, or fish separately from other food items. Drive home immediately after finishing your shopping so that you can store all foods properly.

Prepare foods safely. Wash your hands before and after handling food. Also wash them after using the bathroom or changing diapers. Wash fresh fruits and vegetables by rinsing them well with running water. If possible, use two cutting boards—one for fresh produce and the other for raw meat, poultry, and seafood. You can also wash your knives and cutting boards in the dishwasher to disinfect them. Store foods safely. Cook, refrigerate, or freeze meat, poultry, eggs, fish, and ready-to-eat foods within 2 hours.

Serve foods safely. Follow labels on food packaging. Food packaging labels provide information about when to use the food and how to store it. Reading food labels and following safety instructions will reduce your chances of becoming ill with food poisoning.

When in doubt, throw it out. Foods that are not cooked after handling, such as sliced meats, puddings, pastries, and sandwiches, are especially risky if contaminated with Staph. You can suspect Staph food poisoning based on the type of symptoms and their fast resolution. Although laboratory tests can detect toxin-producing Staph in stool, vomit, and foods, these tests are usually not ordered except during an outbreak. If you think you might have Staph food poisoning and are experiencing severe symptoms, contact your health care provider.

The most important treatment is drinking plenty of fluids. Your healthcare provider may give you medicine to decrease vomiting and nausea. People with severe illness may require intravenous fluids. Antibiotics are not useful in treating this illness because the toxin is not affected by antibiotics. The following tips that are part of the four steps to food safety — clean, separate, cook, and chill — also can help protect you and your loved ones from food poisoning:.

Recovery generally takes two days. It is not unusual for complete recovery to take three days and sometimes longer. The objective of treatment is to replace fluids, salt, and minerals that are lost by vomiting or diarrhea. The exact number of Staph aureus cases that occur each year is hard to determine because many people attribute their illness to a virus or flu. The local Health Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC cannot record the number of cases accurately unless the ill person seeks medical care, which is unusual in mild cases.

The CDC has calculated an estimate of the number of cases of Staph aureus based on corrections for underreporting, misdiagnosis, and the number of cases that are not caused by contaminated food.

About 1, cases will be severe enough to require hospitalization; 6 deaths are possible each year. Anyone can become ill by eating food that has been improperly stored. Some will have more severe symptoms depending on the dose of toxin that they consume. Staph aureus is found on the human body and anyone who handles food during preparation can transfer some of the bacteria to the food.

If that food is "perishable"—meaning a food that should be refrigerated to prevent bacteria from multiplying at room temperature—then a foodborne illness is possible if the food is "temperature abused.

The more toxin in the food, the sicker the person who eats the temperature abused food will be. Staph aureus may also be present in raw milk and raw milk products. Staph can cause mastitis in dairy cows, and other infections in meat animals.

Keep food out of the refrigerator no more than 2 hours to keep Staph aureus from growing. Check the temperature in the refrigerator with a thermometer to be sure that it is between 35 and 40 degrees F and cold enough to keep food safe. Thaw foods in the refrigerator, in the microwave, or under cold running water.

Put thawing meat or chicken in a dish to keep juices from leaking onto the food below. Take only foods that can be kept at a safe temperature on picnics, not highly perishable foods, such as cream pastries. Always wash your hands after using the toilet, after changing a baby's diaper, after touching pets or other animals, and after sneezing or coughing.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Staphylococcal Food Poisoning. Accessed: August 22, Hillers, V.