Food Poisoning from Staph: Quick Onset of Vomiting Common
Most commonly, staph infections are found on the skin as a minor infection from staphylococcus bacteria. Staph infections can be deadly if the bacteria “invade deeper into your body, entering your bloods treading, joints, bones, lungs, or heart,” according to the Mayo Clinic.[1]
Treatment of a skin staph infection usually requires antibiotics, but there is an increasing number of strains becoming resistant to antibiotics leading to life-threatening infections.
Food poisoning from staphylococcus bacteria is very common. Symptoms typically develop within a few hours of eating a food contaminated with the bacteria. According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of a foodborne staph infection include the following:
- nausea and vomiting,
- diarrhea,
- dehydration, and
- low blood pressure.
A serious complication known as septicemia can occur if the staph bacteria enters the bloodstream and affect the following areas: internal organs like your brain, heart, lungs, bones, muscles, and surgically implanted devices like artificial joints.[2]
Toxins from some stains of staphylococcus bacteria can cause also serious condition known as toxic shock syndrome (TSS). Like infections from STEC (Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, the overgrowth of particular strains of bacteria result in the production of the toxins which can trigger potentially fatal syndromes like TSS and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
The production of pyrogenic toxin superantigens (PTSAgs) by Staphylococcus aureus cause staphylococcal food poisoning and infections associated with TSS.[3] Symptoms of TSS occur when the toxins enter the bloodstream, infecting other parts of the body (i.e. liver, brain, heart)[4]. As a result of the PTSAgs, people may experience high fever, headache, diarrhea, and decreased organ functions.
[1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/staph-infections/symptoms-causes/syc-20356221
[2] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/septicemia
[3] Schlievert, P. M., Jablonski, L. M., Roggiani, M., Sadler, I., Callantine, S., Mitchell, D. T., … Bohach, G. A. (2000). Pyrogenic toxin superantigen site specificity in toxic shock syndrome and food poisoning in animals. Infection and immunity, 68(6), 3630–3634. doi:10.1128/iai.68.6.3630-3634.2000
[4] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/toxic-shock-syndrome-tss
