Food Infection
The incubation period of food infection is usually from six to twelve hours from the time the food is taken into the stomach until the manifestation of symptoms. This period may in some cases be reduced to only four hours, while in others it may be extended to seventy-two or more hours. This class of food poisoning is sometimes called meat poisoning from the fact that meat forms its chief vehicle, but milk and milk products and even vegetables may contain it.
The symptoms are characterized by acute gastro-intestinal disturbances. The onset is usually sudden. The first to appear are severe griping pains in the abdominal region, there may be various nervous manifestations, such as drowsiness, muscular twitchings and more or less restlessness. The abdominal pains may be accompanied with diarrhœa, nausea and vomiting. There may be chills and headache. As the condition progresses the stools become a greenish color and of a very watery consistency. There may be chills and headaches, marked muscular weakness, faintness and possibly prostration. The temperature runs from 102° F. to 103° F. There is excessive thirst, skin eruptions and herpes. There is often oliguria. The severity of the symptoms will depend upon the amount of poison taken into the system and the freedom of transmission of mental impulses, which will enable Innate Intelligence to bring about her adaptative processes. Usually the attack lasts only a few days, although the fulminating cases may prove fatal within twenty-four hours. Warm weather seems to be conducive to the formation of this poison, since the greater number of outbreaks occur in the summer time.