What to do about bacterial food poisoning

Bacterial food poisoning can be divided into two categories: gastrointestinal food poisoning and neurotoxic food poisoning. In terms of treatment, gastrointestinal food poisoning is mainly based on active symptomatic treatment. In the early stage, patients are recommended to take appropriate bed rest, and in the initial situation, it is recommended to eat liquid food or semi-liquid food, and gradually transition to a normal diet structure as the condition gradually improves, and in terms of symptomatic treatment, oral rehydration salt solution can be chosen for rehydration treatment. In addition, if the patient has symptoms of nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, he can choose scopolamine and atropine for symptomatic treatment. When the patient has severe vomiting, balanced salt solution can be given for intravenous infusion to maintain the stability of the patient’s internal environment and correct acid-base imbalance and ionic disturbance. In the event of shock, aggressive anti-shock therapy should be administered. The use of antibiotics is generally not recommended for the treatment of pathogenic bacteria, but if the patient develops significant hyperthermia, antibiotics should be selected according to the pathogenic bacteria. Neurotoxic food poisoning, also known as botulism, is a clinical condition caused by exotoxin produced by Clostridium botulinum. In addition to bed rest, the patient should be treated as soon as possible with emetic, gastric lavage, and enema, with 5% sodium bicarbonate or 1:4000 potassium permanganate as the solutions of choice. The patient should also be given appropriate cathartic treatment to reduce the reabsorption of botulinum exotoxin, but the use of magnesium should be avoided during the use of cathartic drugs. Because neurotoxic food poisoning is often associated with respiratory instability, tracheotomy or tracheal intubation should be performed as soon as possible depending on the patient’s condition, with the aim of keeping the airway open and maintaining stable circulatory function, and striving for early treatment with multivalent antitoxin serum within 24 hours. Other treatments include neurotrophic therapy and penicillin, which is used to destroy Clostridium botulinum in the intestinal tract and reduce exotoxin production.