# AMA ONLINE PRIMER: Foodborne Illness



## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

This might be very helpful, esp. for iBS victims, who can be devastated by food infection or food contamination.The link takes you to access of the whole primer: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/3629.html Diagnosis and Management of Foodborne Illnesses: A Primer for PhysiciansFoodborne illnesses have a major public health impact in the United States. It is estimated that each year in the United States, 76 million people get sick, more than 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die as a result of foodborne illnesses, primarily the very young, elderly, and the immunocompromised. Unfortunately, substantial progress in preventing certain foodborne illnesses such as typhoid and cholera has led to complacency in both the public and the medical profession. This, coupled with recent changes in human demographics and eating behavior, technology and industry, international travel and commerce, microbial adaptation, economic development and land use, and the breakdown of public health measures, has resulted in new and reemerging foodborne illnesses. As such, there is now a critical need for education and awareness on the diagnosis and prevalence of new foodborne illnesses and on the treatment of such diseases. Additionally, physicians should be aware of the critical role they play in the public health arena in terms of surveillance for, and identification and prevention of, potential outbreaks of foodborne illness in the United States.Recognizing this need, the AMAï¿½s House of Delegates at the 1997 Interim Meeting adopted Substitute Resolution 518, which asks our AMA to "work with appropriate federal agencies, medical specialty societies, and public health agencies to educate physicians and the public on measures to prevent foodborne illness. The Presidentï¿½s National Food Safety Initiative announced in 1997 has as a major component the education of physicians to better diagnose and treat foodborne illness. Thus, the American Medical Association (AMA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition-Food and Drug Administration (CFSAN-FDA), and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the United Sates Department of Agriculture collaborated to develop Diagnosis and Management of Foodborne Illness: A Primer for Physicians.This primer is intended to provide health professionals with current and accurate information for the diagnosis, treatment and reporting of foodborne illnesses. The primer also provides health care professionals with patient education materials on prevention of foodborne illness.The primer offers 3.0 hours of Category I Continuing Medical Education or Continuing Education Units. Specific objectives of this primer are to educate health professionals to: ï¿½	Recognize the potential for a foodborne etiology in a patientï¿½s illness ï¿½	Realize that many but not all cases of foodborne illness have gastrointestinal tract symptoms ï¿½	Obtain stool cultures in appropriate settings, and recognize that testing for some specific pathogens must be requested ï¿½	Report suspect cases to appropriate public health officials ï¿½	Talk with patients about ways to prevent food-related diseases ï¿½	Appreciate that any patient with foodborne illness may represent the sentinel case of a more widespread outbreak ______________MNL______________________ www.leapallergy.com


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