Table I
Food and Water Borne Infections

| |Campylobacter |Clostridium perfringins toxin |E. coli O157:H7 |Listeriosis |Salmonellosis |Shigellosis |
| | |mediated infection |(E. coli 0111:H8 is less severe) | | | |
|Organism |Campylobacter jejuni |Clostridium perfringens |Escherichia coli |Listeria monocytogenes |Salmonella enteritidis |Shigella (four species cause |
| |microaerophile |anaerobic |facultative |microaerophile |facultative |human disease) |
| | | | | | |facultative |
|Incubation period | | | | | | |
|Duration of illness| | |5-10 d in adults |Indefinite, depends on | | |
| | | |Children/elderly may develop more |treatment, but has high | | |
| | | |severe complication which can last|fatality in immunocompromised | | |
| | | |several weeks. | | | |
|Symptoms |Abdominal pain, nausea, |Abdominal pain, diarrhea |Severe bloody diarrhea, abdominal |Nausea, vomiting, headache, |Abdominal pain, headache, nausea,|Diarrhea, fever, chills, |
| |fever, diarrhea (may be | |cramps. Sometimes nonbloody |stiff neck, fever, chills, |vomiting, fever, diarrhea |lassitude, dehydration |
| |bloody), vomiting | |diarrhea or asymptomatic |backache, meningitis | | |
|Complica-tions |Occasionally spreads to blood |No info available |Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), |Infection during pregnancy can |More severe in the elderly, |The species common to the U.S. is|
| |stream. | |where red blood cells are |lead to premature delivery, |infants, and immunocompromised |relatively mild and does not |
| |May trigger Guillan-Barre | |destroyed and kidneys are damaged.|infection of the newborn, or | |usually invade the bloodstream. |
| |syndrome | |Can be fatal, esp. in children. |even stillbirth. | |The strain common in tropical |
| | | | | |