Symptoms Of Listeria

Listeria is a type of bacteria that naturally exists in the soil and water, and it can be dangerous to consume. Unfortunately, listeria bacteria will continue to grow even under refrigeration. It can be found in raw milk, deli meats, smoked seafood, soft cheeses, sprouts, and many other foods. Any meat, dairy, or produce product may contain listeria, and the only way to kill it is by cooking or pasteurizing the product. If you are healthy, your body might fight off the listeria without you even noticing you are sick, but individuals with weakened immune systems, such as seniors, pregnant women, and organ transplant patients, are at risk.

Muscle Aches And Pains

Muscle aches and pains can first show up in the days after you eat something contaminated with listeria but can take as long as a month for them to begin showing up. It often starts out as feeling slightly sore before progressing to more intense muscle aches and pains. Individuals infected with listeria typically describe this pain as being a widespread ache. It may feel like you have exercised too vigorously, and it might hurt to move around. This symptom sometimes occurs alongside sensations of stiffness in the muscles, particularly around the neck. Typically, the soreness lasts between a few days to a week. In some cases, it may linger slightly longer.

Nausea

After you are infected with listeria, you may find you feel rather nauseous. This is one of the first symptoms to show up following infection. Some patients describe it as feeling as if their stomach is rolling, spinning, or heaving, and others find it feels like a painful cramp. It occurs because the body is trying to rid itself of the bacteria. You may feel a lot of stomach upset, especially when you try to eat food or drink water. The queasiness may feel so bad patients with listeria do not eat well for several days. However, not all those who get nausea will simply feel queasy, and in some cases, patients may experience vomiting.

Fever

In its mildest form, the only sign of a listeria infection may be an increased temperature. This change in body temperature will be sudden instead of gradual. A person may feel fine one hour and experience a fever in the next hour. The higher temperature occurs as the immune system becomes more active and works to fight off listeria. If you are an otherwise healthy adult, your temperature may just raise a degree or two, and you might not experience any other symptom. However, if the person infected with listeria is already ill, they may end up dealing with a dangerously high fever. Individuals who are seriously ill with listeria may have a temperature ranging around 103 degrees Fahrenheit.

Headache

Individuals with listeria often report feeling generally achy and uncomfortable during their infection. Headaches show up early in the infection and may come and go until the patient is well again. The type of headache associated with a listeria infection is typically described as being quite severe. Patients may find they are very sensitive to light and sound, and the headache can be bad enough to trigger other symptoms of a migraine. An ache in the head most commonly occurs among pregnant women. It is imperative for a pregnant woman to seek treatment if she suspects she has a listeria infection, since this bacteria can be potentially life-threatening to a fetus, or it can cause a child to develop a dangerous listeria infection right after birth.

Tremors And Convulsions

Tremors and convulsions mean a person has a much more severe version of listeria. It will vary from patient to patient. Some individuals may just notice their hand shakes slightly now and then, or their entire body may twitch. The main similarity between all of these symptoms is the patient's muscles are moving without the patient trying to control them.

Tremors and convulsions are signs listeria has started to affect the nerves. It is often accompanied by disorientation, seizures, and other symptoms of encephalitis. If a person with listeria is experiencing involuntary muscle contractions, it is important to get medical treatment as soon as possible. When the listeria infection has reached this state, the patient is in danger of going into septic shock due to the widespread infection, and are at risk for brain damage.

Diarrhea

Diarrhea can be an indicator of a listeria infection, but it's also a symptom of dozens of other issues. An individual with diarrhea will experience loose and watery bowel movements that may be difficult to control. When the underlying cause is an infection like listeria, the bowel movements might be more frequent than usual. Diarrhea isn't often a cause for concern, as most cases don't last for more than a few days. But ongoing diarrhea can be an indicator of another serious problem, like a persistent infection or illness.

The main hallmark of diarrhea is loose and watery stools. Affected individuals might also deal with pain and cramping in the abdomen, bloating, and nausea. The urge to have a bowel movement might become urgent. If individuals experience diarrhea that dehydrates them, leads to severe rectal or abdominal pain, causes black or bloody stools, or leads to a fever higher than 102 degrees Fahrenheit, it's time to talk to a doctor.

Stiff Neck

A stiff neck can be a sign of a listeria infection. There are other common causes of a stiff neck as well, though, most of which aren't serious and will resolve on their own. When the neck is stiff, it tends to be sore and affected individuals have a reduced range of movement. Individuals often have trouble turning their head from one side to the other, and they may experience increased pain when attempting this. Some patients will experience neck pain, head pain, shoulder pain, or even arm pain in addition to the stiffness.

It's common for affected individuals to need to turn their entire body instead of just their neck when they need to look over their shoulder or sideways. Stiff necks are common even in individuals who don't have an infection. Sleeping wrong on the neck muscles can lead to mild injury and soreness. A stiff neck might also develop after strenuous activity. If individuals have unexplained stiffness that isn't resolving within a few days, though, they should talk to a doctor.

Loss Of Balance

Loss of balance is a serious neurological symptom that can occur when an individual is infected by the more severe type of listeria. Unlike more mild symptoms, neurological issues tend to develop anywhere from three days to three months after eating contaminated food. If individuals are experiencing neurological symptoms like loss of balance, they should talk to a doctor as soon as possible. Even if the underlying cause isn't a listeria infection, it's vitally important to get a diagnosis and treatment to prevent potentially permanent neurological damage.

A number of symptoms, besides falling, are related to a loss of balance. Having problems with balance might lead to dizziness, feeling like the room is spinning, or feeling like falling over. Some patients might experience these sensations regardless of whether they're standing, sitting, or lying down. They might also feel as though they're floating, faint, or lightheaded. Some individuals experience confusion and vision changes like blurriness. If individuals have problems with balance, they should talk to a doctor about their exact symptoms to narrow down the potential causes.

Confusion

Confusion is another neurological symptom that can indicate a severe case of listeria. Like other neurological symptoms, these might not appear until anywhere from three days to three months after the initial infection. Patients might experience neurological symptoms after more mild symptoms have already seemed to resolve. Confusion is a mental symptom that interferes with an individual's ability to think clearly. Many patients experiencing confusion feel disoriented and struggle to make decisions or focus.

Another common term for this experience is disorientation. If the confusion reaches an extreme enough level to make individuals lose touch with reality, it's called delirium. Confusion can be a difficult condition to pinpoint, but it can also be a sign of serious underlying infections or illnesses. As such, recognizing it and seeking treatment is essential. Some common signs of confusion include long pauses when speaking, slurred words, incoherent speech, confusion about the time or date, forgetting what tasks are being performed, or sudden agitation.

Loss Of Interest In Feeding

In infants with listeria, one common symptom is a loss of interest in feeding, which may be accompanied by other signs of infection. Poor feeding can be very frightening for new parents, since it's so important for babies to receive the right nutrition and care. There are a number of circumstances besides listeria infection that can lead to poor feeding. Poor feeding can be a very serious issue even when not caused by a dangerous infection, because a lack of feeding can lead to undernutrition. About forty-five percent of the deaths of children worldwide are related to a lack of nutrition.

If a child isn't getting key nutrients, it can lead to cognitive and physical problems. Premature babies might be poor feeders because they haven't had a chance to develop the skills necessary for feeding. Infections like listeria and congenital conditions like jaundice can also contribute to poor feeding. There are some serious conditions that can cause a loss of interest in feeding as well, with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome being one of them.