Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Food and Water Safety for HIV Positive Individuals

There are many infections that can be easily avoided using a few precautions regarding food and water storage and preparation. These illnesses include Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria and Cryptosporidium. These may cause nausea, diarrhea, upset stomach, vomiting, stomach cramps, fever, headache, muscle pain, meningitis and encephalitis. Precautions to take include:

• Meat, poultry (such as chicken or turkey), and fish can make you sick if they are raw, undercooked, or spoiled.
• Wash all fruits and vegetables well before cooking or eating raw.
• Don’t drink water straight from lakes, rivers, streams, or springs.
• Keep hands and counters clean, don’t cross contaminate with raw food such as meats or poultry.

Proper storage and preparation of food and water will decrease your chances of having to deal with these infections and is an important part of your preventative health care.

Do you have any questions regarding food and water safety? We’d love to hear from you.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've given up on drinking bottled water for a couple reasons. First, with a hefty CD4 count well above 800 and given the increasing concerns about the environmental impact and costs of bottled water, it's municipal tap water for me these days.