What to do if you think you or a loved one may have a foodborne illness:

1. Contact a physician immediately if the victim is in a high-risk group, or exhibits any of the serious warning symptoms. Even if not, remain vigilant; persistent low-level symptoms can lead to dehydration and further illness. (What to do if you think your child has an E.coli infection.)
   
   Be aware that some studies have contraindicated antibiotics for E. coli O157:H7. If your doctor is considering prescribing antibiotics and E. coli O157:H7 may be a possibility, make sure he/she knows this. NEMJ
   
2. Ask your physician about a stool culture and be sure she/he specifies what specific tests the lab is to run. Be insistent if you have to! S.T.O.P. studies and two CDC studies (first study and second study) have shown that doctors sometimes fail to recognize serious foodborne illnesses upon presentation and that miscommunications can happen between physicians and labs (read article).
   
3. Get informed. Ask your doctor for information, what diagnoses are being considered, what treatments are standard, whether a specialist consultation is needed, and whether the public health department is being alerted. Contact S.T.O.P. for medical resources, help, or to talk to someone who’s been through foodborne illness before. Email S.T.O.P. or call 1-800-350-S.T.O.P.
   
4. Practice especially thorough hygiene. Secondary transmission of foodborne diseases is very common. Protect other members of your family by limiting physical contact with the victim and following important safety steps.
   
5. Call your state or local health department to find out about outbreaks in the area and report the illness. How to find agencies in charge of foodborne disease: (click here).
   
6. Consider completing a food history questionnaire. This may help you or public health officials to track down source of the illness and keep other people from getting sick. A model questionnaire is available online (food history survey). It may also help to fill out one for family members, whether they’re sick or not.
   
7. Collect unused portions or containers, when available, for any food products that the victim has consumed in the last two weeks. Unused portions should be stored in plastic bags and kept in the freezer, clearly labeled, and not eaten.. Containers may be placed, unwashed, into plastic bags and saved. These may be helpful for future testing by public health officials to determine the source of the illness.
   
8. Think about whether you might want to contact a lawyer or the media. Lawyers can be helpful in tracking down the source of illness and holding any producer of contaminated food accountable. The media can be helpful in publicizing the case to the community if you feel others may be at risk. See S.T.O.P.’s publications on “what to look for in a lawyer” and “telling your story to the media”.
   
9. Remember that foodborne illness is not your fault. With pressure on you from the illness, plus physicians, public health officials and media tracking what you did, it’s easy to feel guilty about the illness. But almost all serious foodborne diseases are caused not by cooking practices or food choices, but by contamination in the food that shouldn’t have been in there in the first place. Try to avoid blaming yourself.
   
10. Contact S.T.O.P. at or 1-800-350-STOP. During an illness, S.T.O.P. is on hand to provide support, advocacy, medical resources, and a connection with people who understand because they’ve been there before. After an illness, S.T.O.P. works to help victims tell their stories to help make food safer and prevent foodborne disease. We welcome your call and the opportunity to help.