Waterborne and Foodborne Bacterial Diseases

Surveillance

Occurrences of illness monitored

FoodNet

Surveillance database system to watch for foodborne illnesses in a subset of the US population

PulseNet

Database of pulsed field gel electrophoresis patterns for pathogens

Pulse field Electrophoresis

Method identifies pathogen by a unique “DNA fingerprint” based on the band patterns from gel electrophoresis of restriction enzyme-digested DNA

Genome Trakr

whole genome sequencing progarm

Perishable foods

Foods that provide environments that increase populations of natural or pathogenic microbes during storage

Semiperishable foods

Hard fruits and potatoes, can be stored for longer times

Nonperishable foods

Have properties that prevent microbial growth or have no microbes to begin with, usually dry , low water content or sterilized by heating.

Refigeration

Lowers temp so that microbes can’t grow

Acidity

Makes the enviornment unsuitable for bacteria by lowering pH (pickling by adding 5-10% vinegar)

Drying

No water content

Chemical Preservatives

Act as growth inhibitors and are generally recognized as safe by the FDA (Sodium benzoate, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sorbic acid, sodium propionate)

Radiation

Beta or Gamma added post packaging

Pastuerization

Heats high for short period

Canning

Heats at low temp for long time

Microbial fermentation

Microorganisms or combination of microorganisms consume fermentable sugars and produce end product that inhibit growth of pathogens

Food infection

Consuming a pathogenic organsim

Food poisoning

Consuming toxins produced by pathogenic organisms

Salmononellosis

Caused by Salmonella enterica

Entercolitis

Salmonella lives in the digestive tract with a combination of enterotoxin and endotoxins to damage and kill host cells

Typhoid Fever

Caused by Salmonella and can be spread through carriers

STEC

Shiga toxin-producing E.coli that produced blooddiarhea and kidney failure casue by the shiga toxin

Purification

Filtering out all pathogens from consumable products

Cholera

Caused by Vibrio cholerae in the small intestine that is transimitted through fecal-contaminated water

Legionnaire’s Disease

Caused by Legionella pneumophila that is spread by aerosols and live in ameobae that can infect APCs