Got Food Poisoning - Worth reporting to Disney or Not?

[CaptainShortty]

It can take longer if you have a slower absorption rate - my husband and I had food poisoning once - his severe symptoms started a couple of hours before mine. I woke up to tend to him, but didn't bother going back to bed because I knew I was next (started to feel "off" while he was sick as a dog) :lol: But he has always had a faster GI system.

Definitely true, that's why I said usually. It may come later than the 8 hours but it is unlikely that it will come before the 2 hour timeframe. If the OP got IMMEDIATELY sick after eating the food at Tusker House than it is unlikely it was food poisoning. Of course as someone said, a chemical could have gotten into the food causing them to get sick so quickly. Nonetheless, what I was saying is that depending on the timeframe it may have not been food poisoning. There are other possibilities.

 

[britdaw]

Oh wow, so sorry to hear you got sick! I'd call and let them know, even if only to make yourself feel better that you reported it. Even if they don't investigate, at least you brought it to their attention!

 

[EvilQueen-T]

I feel your pain. I got a nasty case of food poisoning after lunch at house of blues in april 2010.

 

[Cubs Brian]

Truthfully? It's highly likely you got something worse...

Snot on Handrail Poisoning.

No joke - hand sanitizer is CRITICAL in the parks. Not a slam on Disney... just what one would expect with a whole bunch of fairly sick children all around you . NO ONE is going to cancel & stay home when a child gets sick... and the airplanes comming IN are the worst.

Kind of what I was thinking. We went down there 2yrs ago and 2 of us managed to contract Norovirus. Similar symptoms to food poisoning but strikes faster, lasted about 2 days. Hand sanitizers would help(especially at buffets).

 

[BelleofDE]

Ok, I called and emailed guest relations. The person on the phone guest relations tried to convince me that I could not possibley have gotten food poisoning in under 24 hours. BS, actually two of them, one in Microbilogy and one in Medical Technology says otherwise. I've not had food poisoning much before but that 8 hours was something I'd rather never repeat. Still a bit tender today but should be back to snuff tomorrow. Hope some good comes of it.

Kevin

I'm glad you informed them! I work in the food industry and it is very important to know if a person gets sick after eating in our establishment. I was told in one of my food safety classes that food poisoning onset was not for 24-48 hrs, but if you look at the FDA's website it does state that it can start even less than one hour after consuming. Regardless, the person from guest relations should not have argued with you about it.

 

[71dsp]

Kind of what I was thinking. We went down there 2yrs ago and 2 of us managed to contract Norovirus. Similar symptoms to food poisoning but strikes faster, lasted about 2 days. Hand sanitizers would help(especially at buffets).

WOW! I got very ill the last day we were at WDW on our first trip. When I looked it up on my phone, I was thinking I had gastroenteritis (aka stomach flu). Since it was in January, I just figured I was unfortunate enough to catch it the last day. My poor wife was up with me most of the night and canceled all of our plans for that day since we were leaving that afternoon. Had the flight been earlier in the day, I don't think I could have flown. I was in really bad shape and darn near didn't make the flight home without tossing my cookies.

Anyway, I never heard of Norovirus, but reading the CDC's site reads like the exact symptoms I had (except I never vomited).

Great stuff to know. I'm going to be sure that we're fully stocked on hand santizer and we all wash hands regularly during our next trip.

 

[EvilQueen-T]

i'm an arnp with my national certification in family practice and yes the onset of some forms of food poisoning can be within a very short period of time, yes even less than 2 hours depending on the cause (chemical, bacterial, viral etc..)

 

[yankspy]

I got sick from Tusker House last year. I told them so that they could possibly track it to see if anyone else got sick.

As far as food poisoning itself goes, there are certain things like Scromboid poisoning that will happen almost immediately.

 

[Herky]

Food poisoning can be very quick, depending upon the mechanism.

For many organisms, there can be an incubation period (salmonella, shigella, campylobacter) so the symptoms can take a while to manifest themselves.

However, there is a toxin-mediated pathway that can produce symptoms very quickly.

Another possibily could be an allergy. I thought I had food poisoning once after eating a clam sauce. (Not incidentally, it was the first time I had consumed shell-fish). The next time I ate shellfish (on my honeymoon) I was green within 10 minutes of eating a little bit of crab. I spent the next 24 hours incapicated. Lesson learned at that point. My wife took great care of me, though, and it confirmed I had a keeper.

My daughter (3 at the time) drank some water from the pond outside of Flametree during lunch and sure enough got sick later that day. My wife immediately started to think food poisoning was the cause, until I reminded her of my daughter's love of swamp juice. Needless to say, she doesn't drink from strange bodies of water anymore.

 

[Motorpro]

Why is that every time people get sick they assume it was food poisoning? 9out of ten times it is a flu or virus but everyone blames it on food

 

[EvilQueen-T]

Why is that every time people get sick they assume it was food poisoning? 9out of ten times it is a flu or virus but everyone blames it on food

Food poisoning is much more self limiting and of shorter incubation and duration than a viral or bacterial infection so i don't completely agree with you there although i'm not saying people don't do that...kind of like every headache isn't a migraine. food poisoning affects 1 in 4 people on average every 3-4 years and will hit you much quicker and without other symptoms as compared to infectious processes. i don't blame disney any more than i do any other place. in fact, with as many people from so many different places packing into small places it's no wonder we don't all end up sick after a trip to the world. good bad or ugly food poisoning is going to happen there just like it does anywhere else.

 

[Herky]

Truthfully? It's highly likely you got something worse...

Snot on Handrail Poisoning.

No joke - hand sanitizer is CRITICAL in the parks. Not a slam on Disney... just what one would expect with a whole bunch of fairly sick children all around you . NO ONE is going to cancel & stay home when a child gets sick... and the airplanes comming IN are the worst.

+1.

This reminds me of what my microbiology professor in med school always said, "If ________ were pink, the world would be rosy."

We don't live in a sanitary world. Needless to say, I'm an avid handwasher.