How long does it take to get sick from food poisoning after eating?

Food poisoning from C. perfringens (diarrhea usually strikes 8-22 hours after eating) is associated with meats (especially beef and poultry), meat-containing products (e.g., gravies and stews), and Mexican foods. It is also found on vegetable products, including spices and herbs, and in raw and processed foods.

FOOD POISONING STORIES

Years ago, my husband and I ate at a “hole in the wall” Mexican restaurant. He thought his meal tasted great. Mine was pretty good too. While we were waiting for the check, he started to feel sick. It came on so fast. He got up to go look for the bathroom and immediately started vomiting. He left a trail of vomit all the way to the bathroom (which unfortunately was the women’s bathroom, poor guy). Anyway, when he finished vomiting he felt fine. Two hours later, he had a big bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce. I suspect that this type of food poisoning was from the toxins produced either by Staphylococcus aureus or Bacillus cereus since it came on so suddenly and was over so quickly. No one else caught it from him which further supports a diagnosis of food poisoning.

Another example of obvious non-contagious food poisoning happened to my sister and her coworker recently. They went to happy hour (at 5pm) at a local restaurant and shared an appetizer of fried calamari with a dipping sauce. At 10pm, they were both vomiting. Since they don't live together and didn't eat anything else that was the same that day, I am very certain that they got food poisoning from that shared appetizer. The dipping sauce was probably sitting out barely warm under a heat lamp all afternoon growing toxin producing bacteria. No one else caught it from them so that further suggests that it was food poisoning.

Another example of non-contagious food poisoning recently happened to a friend and her husband after having dinner at a restaurant. They had different meals but they both got the same house salad (lettuce, eggs, tomato, cheese, croutons, cucumbers, and creamy Italian dressing). My friend went to bed at 9:30pm and thought her stomach felt odd but she fell asleep anyway. She woke up at 10:15pm and had to run to the toilet to vomit. She had 1 violent episode of vomiting and then felt okay. She slept the rest of the night. She was perfectly fine the next day. This seems like a case of non-contagious food poisoning because it came on so quickly after the meal and was over quickly. Although it is possible to vomit just 1 time from a stomach flu virus, they usually don't end that quickly. Her husband had a different story. He had a stomachache after dinner just like she did. However, he did not vomit. He had a stomachache for the next 2 days and then had diarrhea for the following 3 days. He wasn't right for a week. If I was just looking at his symptoms, I'd say that he probably has something contagious. However, since his wife most definitely has the non-contagious form, and they both felt sick at the same time, I would blame it on a bad salad. This example shows us that even the same bad food can affect people differently. I know throwing up is scary but when you eat something bad, it is probably the fastest way to feel better. My friend's husband didn't throw up and kept the bad stuff in. He was sick all week.

--Annie Pryor, Ph.D.

1.http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/staphylococcus_food_g.htm

2. http://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/bacteriaviruses/bcereus/index.html

3.http://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/bacteriaviruses/cperfringens/index.html