Is food poisoning a serious condition?

Complications. The most common serious complication of food poisoning is dehydration — a severe loss of water and essential salts and minerals. If you're a healthy adult and drink enough to replace fluids you lose from vomiting and diarrhea, dehydration shouldn't be a problem. read more

Food poisoning can be serious/life threatening: especially E. coli., Listeria, Hepatitis A, Salmonella, and Staphlococcus aurea; but it is usually the extreme diarrhea that comes along with the poisoning in children and elderly that causes the fatalities (hospitals still use charcoal to help with detoxing from the poisons). read more

Salmonella is by far the biggest culprit of serious food poisoning cases in the United States. According to the CDC, an estimated 1,000,000 cases of food poisoning, including nearly 20,000 hospitalizations, can be traced to salmonella infection annually. read more

Having a chronic condition — such as diabetes, liver disease or AIDS — or receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy for cancer reduces your immune response. Complications. The most common serious complication of food poisoning is dehydration — a severe loss of water and essential salts and minerals. read more