title: How to diagnose a foodborne illness.
abstract: Timely diagnosis of foodborne infection can be critical not only for the patient, but also for the larger community because of the potential to interrupt further spread. This article presents the diagnostic approach to patients with foodborne illness, discussing epidemiologic clues of various foodborne pathogens and their distinguishing clinical features of diagnostic importance. Also discussed are situations whereby stool cultures should be ordered; other helpful stool tests; nonculture methods of identifying organisms and their applicability in clinical settings; the role of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis in typing organisms; and large-scale sharing of data to aid in identification of large outbreaks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 20 Penn Street, S243, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 20 Penn Street, S243, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 20 Penn Street, S243, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. Electronic address: mdonnenb@umaryland.edu.
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Donnenberg
authors.forename: Shivakumar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Narayanan
mesh_terms: D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D062486:Public Health Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis
keywords: Diagnosis; Food poisoning; Foodborne illness; Microbiology; Outbreaks; Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis; Stool antigen detection; Stool culture