INFORMATION FOR WOMEN WHO HAVE FOOD POISONING DURING PREGNANCY OR BREASTFEEDING

What is food poisoning during pregnancy?

Food poisoning encompasses a range of categories, such as botulism, E. coli, Salmonella, cholera, and various others that can strike pregnant women, just like anyone else; however, pregnancy makes you particularly vulnerable to listeriosis, a condition resulting from consumption of food that is contaminated with the bacterial species Listeria monocytogenes. This can happen, particularly if you consume packaged foods designed for long shelf-lives, such as soft cheeses, deli meats, and raw seafood, including sushi. Salmonella infection is a type of food poisoning that is caused by eating food that is contaminated with either of two species of bacteria - Salmonella enterica and Salmonella bongori. The foods most likely to be contaminated with Salmonella are undercooked eggs, followed by seafood (especially shellfish) that is raw or undercooked. Escherichia coli is a bacterial species that lives inside your large intestine. Certain E. coli strains that contaminate food can cause a kind of food poisoning that can be extremely dangerous. Vibrio cholera is a species of bacteria that can contaminate water and produces a toxin that causes serious disease with severe diarrhea and vomiting as the principal symptoms. The disease is known commonly as ‘cholera.’ Botulism is an extremely dangerous condition resulting from a toxin produced by a bacterial species called Clostridium botulinum, but the condition is very rare.