Best Cheeseburger on the Island?

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The diagnosis was Staphylococcal (sp.?) enteritis. I remember because after I got better, I got a call from the Dallas County Health Dept. - apparently this was a "reportable disease" under Texas health code. I do understand that it might not have been the burger, but this was nasty enough that I'll avoid any possible risk factors.
In fact, unless the burger meat was kept at room temperature for a while, it was most likely not the burger at all. Staphylococcus aureus food poisoning is due to the enterotoxin secreted by the bacteria, not the bacteria itself. The enterotoxin comes from bacteria that have been allowed to multiply in food left unrefrigerated for a period of time. Ground beef is usually refrigerated or even frozen until it's time to use it, so no enterotoxin would have developed in your medium-rare burger unless through cross-contamination (i.e. the beef handler touched something or was already sick himself before handling the beef). But plenty of other foods are just as or more likely to be affected by cross-contamination and it's not likely the beef remained unrefrigerated long enough for sufficient enterotoxin to develop.

Also, because it's a toxin and not a bacterial infection that is making you ill, treatment is usually just to let the disease runs its course, not to prescribe antibiotics unless it's a potentially fatal case of acute enteritis that may occur in the elderly. I stand by my earlier assertion that Cipro, no matter who prescribed it, was swatting a fly with an AK-47 and over-prescription of unnecessary antibiotics puts the rest of us in danger.

To avoid possible risk factors, it's best not to eat food at all. You basically never know when cross-contamination will get you. But go ahead and eat those medium-rare burgers as they're likely safe.
 
Also, because it's a toxin and not a bacterial infection that is making you ill, treatment is usually just to let the disease runs its course, not to prescribe antibiotics unless it's a potentially fatal case of acute enteritis that may occur in the elderly. I stand by my earlier assertion that Cipro, no matter who prescribed it, was swatting a fly with an AK-47 and over-prescription of unnecessary antibiotics puts the rest of us in danger.

No offense intended, but I am far more likely to act on the advice of my personal physician than on what I read on an internet forum.
 
No offense Mossman, but your explanation is completely inconsistent with the fact that both the CDC and the Texas Health Code make Staphyloccal enteritis a "reportable" condition, which ONLY apply to contagious diseases. In fact, according to the PDR, staphylococcus aureus can continue to thrive and multiply through the digestive tract, and the illness can be transmitted through fecal material, vomit, or cross-contamination with an infected person. The antibiotic treatment is recommended to kill the live Staph organisms, and, again, according to the PDR, Cipro is highly effective against Gram negative Staph infections. I'm totally with ggunn on this - I'll trust my physician and other authoritative sources much more than I trust your seat of the pants analysis.
 
No offense Mossman, but your explanation is completely inconsistent with the fact that both the CDC and the Texas Health Code make Staphyloccal enteritis a "reportable" condition, which ONLY apply to contagious diseases. In fact, according to the PDR, staphylococcus aureus can continue to thrive and multiply through the digestive tract, and the illness can be transmitted through fecal material, vomit, or cross-contamination with an infected person. The antibiotic treatment is recommended to kill the live Staph organisms, and, again, according to the PDR, Cipro is highly effective against Gram negative Staph infections. I'm totally with ggunn on this - I'll trust my physician and other authoritative sources much more than I trust your seat of the pants analysis.
It's a reportable disease because they want to know where you got it. Duh!

Unforunately plenty of U.S. physicians continue to overprescribe antibiotics. Trust them as much as your want. I mean, after all, it's not like any U.S. physicians ever make mistakes or commit malpractice for god's sake.

But the fact is, the best treatment for your tummy bug would have been to let it run its own course. That way the rest of us aren't affected by your abuse of antibiotics, that way you yourself aren't affected by the side effects of an unwarranted course of antibiotics.

And the fact is, it wasn't the medium-rare burger that made you sick, so you owe someone on this thread a big apology for libeling their burger stand.

---------- Post added March 10th, 2013 at 09:57 PM ----------

No offense intended, but I am far more likely to act on the advice of my personal physician than on what I read on an internet forum.
I would completely agree, except that if your personal physician is the type that prescribes antibiotics for every cold, flu, and stomach bug you get, I strongly urge you to get a second opinion. Fast.
 
But the fact is, the best treatment for your tummy bug would have been to let it run its own course. That way the rest of us aren't affected by your abuse of antibiotics, that way you yourself aren't affected by the side effects of an unwarranted course of antibiotics.

And the fact is, it wasn't the medium-rare burger that made you sick, so you owe someone on this thread a big apology for libeling their burger stand.
The fact is,you would have no way of knowing either of those "facts" unless you were a physician yourself and had examined the patient. You are a voice on the internet and I take all such with a large grain of salt.
 
The fact is,you would have no way of knowing either of those "facts" unless you were a physician yourself and had examined the patient. You are a voice on the internet and I take all such with a large grain of salt.
As you say, don't trust voices on the internet. Do the research yourself. If you don't believe doctors overprescribe antibiotics, then don't believe it. If you think only doctors can properly diagnose medical conditions and that doctors are infallible and never get it wrong, then believe that. If you believe a doctor in the U.S. can properly attribute staph enterititis to a medium-rare cheeseburger that's already been through the patient's digestive tract, believe that as well. If you want to believe it was the cheeseburger that caused the tummy bug, believe that too. I really don't care what you believe. I'm just a voice on the internet.

But whatever you believe, the fact is that antibiotics are overprescribed by doctors who usually pass them out because it's better than doing nothing. The fact is that "doing nothing" is exactly the recommended treatment for staph enteritis but then the doc wouldn't have felt like he was justifying whatever he charged to examine the patient. And the fact is that it's highly, highly unlikely that the burger caused the staph enteritis because of the way staph enteritis works. Again, if you did the research, you would know the facts too. Otherwise, just believe what you hear on the internet. The guy got a tummy bug, he went to his doctor, antibiotics saved his life, and it was definitely caused by the cheeseburger. Sure.
 
Hey, [user]Mossman[/user] Didn't they try to give you antibiotic for that rash you got at the Donkey Show in El Cedral last year? No hamburgers involved, right?
 
Hey, [user]Mossman[/user] Didn't they try to give you antibiotic for that rash you got at the Donkey Show in El Cedral last year? No hamburgers involved, right?
They never told me you couldn't eat the donkey medium rare!

As a rule, I don't go to doctors for food poisoning or the similar appearing rota- and noroviruses because I know there's nothing they can do. The exception was when I got salmonella since I couldn't keep anything down, not even water, and dehydration can be a problem after a while. Fortunately I had a smart doc and she didn't prescribe antibiotics, just gave me a shot of vistaril (anti-nausea).

"For the most common causes of food poisoning, your doctor will NOT prescribe antibiotics." -- http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001652.htm
"Antibiotics are rarely needed for food poisoning. In some cases, antibiotics worsen the condition." -- http://www.emedicinehealth.com/food_poisoning/page7_em.htm
"Why doctors give out antibiotics you don't need." "Antibiotic-resistant infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus may cause more deaths in the United States than AIDS does." -- http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2008/05/the_pinkbubblegum_flavored_dilemma.html

What's really funny is that antibiotics can actually lead to food poisoning since, in the process of killing bacteria, they kill the healthy flora that normally lives in one's digestive tract. Because the digestive flora help prevent dangerous bacteria from gaining a foothold, their removal makes it easier to get infected by a nasty bug.
 
As you say, don't trust voices on the internet. Do the research yourself. If you don't believe doctors overprescribe antibiotics, then don't believe it. If you think only doctors can properly diagnose medical conditions and that doctors are infallible and never get it wrong, then believe that. If you believe a doctor in the U.S. can properly attribute staph enterititis to a medium-rare cheeseburger that's already been through the patient's digestive tract, believe that as well. If you want to believe it was the cheeseburger that caused the tummy bug, believe that too. I really don't care what you believe. I'm just a voice on the internet.

But whatever you believe, the fact is that antibiotics are overprescribed by doctors who usually pass them out because it's better than doing nothing. The fact is that "doing nothing" is exactly the recommended treatment for staph enteritis but then the doc wouldn't have felt like he was justifying whatever he charged to examine the patient. And the fact is that it's highly, highly unlikely that the burger caused the staph enteritis because of the way staph enteritis works. Again, if you did the research, you would know the facts too. Otherwise, just believe what you hear on the internet. The guy got a tummy bug, he went to his doctor, antibiotics saved his life, and it was definitely caused by the cheeseburger. Sure.
I hear blah blah blah; were you saying something? :D

It doesn't matter what I believe or don't believe. I trust my doctor. Whether he overprescribes antibiotics or not isn't something you would have any way of knowing. For all you know he could agree with you 100%.

BTW, I never claimed any belief one way or the other about the cheeseburger or the behavior of any doctor, only that I do not take medical advice from an internet forum on diving. Remember diving? This is a forum about diving.
 
I hear blah blah blah; were you saying something? :D

It doesn't matter what I believe or don't believe. I trust my doctor. Whether he overprescribes antibiotics or not isn't something you would have any way of knowing. For all you know he could agree with you 100%.

BTW, I never claimed any belief one way or the other about the cheeseburger or the behavior of any doctor, only that I do not take medical advice from an internet forum on diving. Remember diving? This is a forum about diving.
Sorry, my bad. I thought this was a forum about cheeseburgers.
 
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