According to the Centre for Food Borne Illness Research & Prevention's news report released Thursday, food borne illnesses can have lasting health consequences, particularly for the young, the elderly and the immune-compromised.

Studying five of the most common food borne illnesses, researchers found they can cause life-long complications like kidney failure, paralysis, mental retardation, seizures, hearing and visual impairments.

The study authors writing in their report say, the severity of acute foodborne diseases depending on the pathogen and the vulnerability of the person infected vary greatly, impacting children, the elderly and the immuno-suppressed, such as, women who are pregnant, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, the recipients of organ-transplants, HIV / AIDS patients, more seriously and in a long-lasting manner.

According to figures from the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some 76-million Americans fall sick from foodborne illnesses every year, with 325,000 hospitalised and 5,000 dying from them, with roughly half of them being children under the age of 15.

In recent years, most of the outbreaks of foodborne illnesses have been linked to peanuts, spinach, ground beef, peppers and other common household foods. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, while these foodborne illnesses typically cause diarrhoea and vomiting result for a few days, they can in 2 to 3% of cases result in serious long-term health consequences.

The researchers of the current report reviewed current information about the health outcomes for five foodborne pathogens, such as, E. coli O157:H7, campylobacter infection, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and Toxoplasma gondii.

Afflicting millions of Americans and hospitalising over ten thousand, Campylobacter infection, typically causes fever, diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, nausea and vomiting, but is also associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) i.e. neuromuscular paralysis which permanently disables and paralyzes the sufferer. As well, Campylobacter also triggers arthritis, heart and blood infections.

E. coli O157:H7 infection causes hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the top cause of acute kidney failure in children.

Listeria monocytogenes has been linked with brain and spinal cord infections, resulting in severe neurological dysfunctions or death.

Salmonella bacteria triggers painful reactive arthritis (ReA), with reports of the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains.

Nearly 80% of infants and foetuses whose mothers are infected with Toxoplasma gondii develop cognitive or visual disabilities, impairments that include mental retardation, moderate visual impairment, crossed-eyes, and blindness.