BOIL, WASH OR DO NOT EAT AT ALL

In summer, the number of cases of food poisoning rises sharply since, in hot weather, the human body becomes more susceptible to infection. This is not surprising because, in the hot season, people bathe in the sea and consume more drinks and perishable products, which can deteriorate if they are stored inappropriately or consumed after their sell-by date. The high temperatures at this time of the year help both the harmless and the pathogenic (disease-causing) microbes that penetrate the body via dirty hands, poorly-washed vegetables and so on, to replicate. As a consequence, this leads to serious poisoning. Acute intestinal infections are also contracted after the consumption of ready-made dishes stored in inappropriate conditions and tap water - the result may be dysentery, hepatitis A, diarrhoea or other diseases. Low quality food can quite often be found in shops, supermarkets and markets.

For this reason, the assurance of food security is one of the most important tasks of the public health sector, as the health of the whole population depends on the quality of its food. In 1996, representatives of various states issued the Rome Declaration of the World Food Summit, confirming the right of every person to access to safe food products. Nevertheless, about two billion cases of illness caused by poor food are registered every year around the world. Most are caused by violations of food safety standards. According to the World Health Organization, even in developed countries, about 30 per cent of the population suffers the consequences of food poisoning, such as diarrhoea. This has a negative impact not only on people's health, but also on the food security of countries as a whole.

The intestinal infections unit of the Clinical Medical Centre told R+ that, in summer, it is necessary to exercise special control over children who might eat dirty fruit or vegetables and come down with diarrhoea. Needless to say, vegetables and fruit should be thoroughly washed under running water. At the same time, the purchase of food products of any type should be accompanied by strict control by the consumer himself, because experience shows that no-one is insured against buying low quality food today. The intestinal infections unit also advises that, in order to avoid contracting intestinal infections, it is necessary to wash the hands with soap as often as possible and to use anti-bacterial moisturized tissues, which can be quite helpful in the most unfavourable sanitary conditions. In shops and supermarkets, it is necessary to pay more attention to the expiry date of sausages, fish, boiled meat, dairy products, chicken and so on. There is no need to risk your life by buying food products sold in the open. Tinned food can be quite dangerous as well. Specialists say that tinned food should never be bought from private individuals. Tinned food poisoning may have terrible consequences - botulism. Spores and bacilli in the soil will produce the dangerous poison botulin in a suitable environment.

As for signs of food poisoning and diarrhoea, a specialist from the Avita pharmaceutical company told R+ that the illness is accompanied by nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and fever. Diarrhoea develops as a consequence of a failure of the intestinal tract and acceleration of digestion, which leads to diluted intestinal discharge and frequent defecation. Diarrhoea is most often caused by Escherichia coli and salmonella bacteria contained in contaminated food and water. That which is caused by bacterial infection often occurs in tourists visiting exotic countries. It can also be caused by ordinary herpes and hepatitis viruses. Moreover, it can also be caused by some medicines - antibiotics, for example. In addition, the consumption of laxatives, alcohol poisoning or the abuse of alcohol, hot food and large amounts of fruit are the most common causes of diarrhoea. In some cases, it can be the body's reaction to stress. This is explained by the fact that, under stress, the blood receives a lot of adrenalin, which accelerates all processes in the body, including digestion. One of the most frequent causes of diarrhoea is the so-called rotavirus. Non-infectious diarrhoea can also be caused by disbacteriosis - the disruption of the balance in intestinal microflora - and incorrect nutrition, including unbalanced diets. There are two types of diarrhoea - acute and chronic. The acute form lasts from one to two weeks. Sudden, acute diarrhoea shows all the signs of an infectious disease: fever and toxicosis.

The specialist observed that, in recent years, the treatment of diarrhoea has been quite successful by medicines containing lactobacteria and bifidus bacteria - so-called probiotics. The term "probiotics", which literally means "for life", emerged recently as an alternative to the term "antibiotics" ("against life"). He said that the modern definition of probiotics was given by a WHO working group in 2002. Priobiotics are living micro organisms which improve the health of the host body when used in appropriate quantities.

Probiotics have a defensive effect against alien pathogenic and conditional-pathogenic microflora via several mechanisms. They compete directly with them for nutrients and sites of adhesion and produce metabolites which suppress their growth (short chain fatty acids, lactic acid, hydrogen peroxide, pyroglutamic acid). Many strains produce bacteriocins - anti-bacterial substances that also inhibit the growth of other microbes. This ability is highly typical of enterococcus and lactobacteria. Many probiotics have a direct anti-toxic effect. They are capable of neutralizing the cytotoxins and enterotoxins of viruses and bacteria: enteropathogenic and enterotoxigenic escherichia, clostridia and cholera. Many scientific studies show a fall in the secretion of sodium and water in the bowels after those affected by acute infectious diarrhoea are given probiotics. This explains why physiological dysfunctions of the bowel are quickly eliminated after the prescription of probiotics for infectious diarrhoea. The direct anti-microbe and anti-toxic effect of probiotics makes it possible to use them successfully in treating light and average forms of intestinal infection. Probiotics are especially effective in virus diarrhoea (rota-, adeno-, calici- and astroviruses), enteropathogenic escherichiosis and diarrhoea associated with antibiotics, said the expert.