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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffTreatment for food poisoning typically depends on the source of the illness, if known, and the severity of your symptoms. For most people, the illness resolves without treatment within a few days, though some types of food poisoning may last a week or more.
The primary goals of treatment are to replace lost fluids and to relieve symptoms of severe diarrhea and vomiting. Fluids and electrolytes — minerals such as sodium, potassium and calcium that maintain the balance of fluids in your body — lost to persistent diarrhea need to be replaced.
Children and adults who are severely dehydrated need treatment in a hospital, where they can receive salts and fluids through a vein (intravenously), rather than by mouth. Intravenous hydration provides the body with water and essential nutrients much more quickly than oral solutions do.
Your doctor may prescribe antibiotics if you have certain kinds of bacterial food poisoning and your symptoms are severe.
Food poisoning caused by listeria needs to be treated with intravenous antibiotics in the hospital. And the sooner treatment begins, the better. During pregnancy, prompt antibiotic treatment may help keep the infection from affecting the baby.
- Diagnosis and management of foodborne illnesses: A primer for physicians and other health care professionals. Rockville, Md.: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. http://www.guideline.gov/summary/summary.aspx?ss=15&doc_id=5266&nbr=3593. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Bacteria and foodborne illness. National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC). http://www.digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/bacteria/index.htm. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Foodborne illness. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodborneinfections_g.htm. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Basics for handling food safely. United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Basics_for_Safe_Food_Handling.pdf. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, et al. Diagnosis and management of foodborne illnesses: A primer for physicians and other health care professionals. MMWR Recommendations and Reports. 2004;53:1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5304a1.htm. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Avoid foodborne illness: Fight BAC! American Medical Association. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/upload/mm/36/foodborne_patient.pdf. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Listeriosis. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases. http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/listeriosis_gi.html. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Conlon CP. Food-borne and water-borne infections. In: Cohen J, et al. Infectious Diseases. 2nd ed. New York, N.Y.: Mosby; 2004. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/132803244-4/0/1209/288.html?tocnode=49354199&fromURL=288.html#4-u1.0-B0-323-02407-6..50095-7_3004. Accessed April 21, 2009.
