Strategies for recognizing acute chemical-associated foodborne illness.
The U.S. food supply is vulnerable to contamination with chemicals and toxins. Public health officials and clinicians may misdiagnose patients with acute chemical-associated foodborne illness (CAFI) due to unfamiliarity with chemical illness, increased familiarity with infectious foodborne illness, nonspecific presentation of most foodborne chemical poisoning, lack of readily available analytic methodologies to detect chemicals, and lack of education on how to develop a differential diagnosis for CAFI. This article will review the unique features of CAFI in the acute setting, address important questions to help differentiate CAFI from other foodborne illness, discuss laboratory features of CAFI, and provide health officials and clinicians with a clinical symptom-based approach to assist with proper identification and differentiation of acute CAFI.
Schier
Joshua G
JG
CDC/NCEH/EHHE/HSB MS F-46, National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Chamblee, GA 30341, USA.
Rogers
Helen Schurz
HS
Patel
Manish M
MM
Rubin
Carol A
CA
Belson
Martin G
MG
D000208:Acute Disease; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005513:Food Inspection; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D011159:Population Surveillance; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors
D015386:Hazardous Substances