food poisoning or sv??

[jsquared]

How can you tell? My husband has been ill since very early morning with v and d. He didn't feel well when we got home after he had some fast food on our drive back home last night from the holiday. I would say he started feeling bad about 3 hours after if that but didn't get sick for a good 6 hours after eating. Is there a way to tell? Gosh if it was food poisoning I would feel so much better and not just be fearing the worst every second today. What a mess

[zombie0037]

You will never know unless a stool sample, chances are it more likely to sv, due to time of year. But who knows

[Dahliaolive]

Poor guy! It's impossible to tell. Some people say that fp doesn't present with fever. Some people say that fp feels more aggressive, like your body will get rid of everything, aggressively, and keep going until there is nothing left...and that it's over faster...with the worst of it being over within 12 hours. You know this already, but hygiene!

[jsquared]

Well he is still at it but I told him to stop trying to drink water and just rest. He is cold so yup probably the dreaded sv. Please let it pass soon and I do not get it. This sucks so bad.

[Afdpt]

I think it's hard to tell for sure without an actual test. A lot times people will claim to have food poisoning when symptoms start shortly after eating a certain food but really it could just be by chance that the stomach bug symptoms started around that time. Or people will claim their food tasted funny ... although I had been under the impression that most times the things that cause food poisoning are pretty tasteless/undetectable (I could be wrong on this.) Maybe if a larger group all ate a certain thing and then started with symptoms at the same time you could more safely suspect food poisoning but for the most part I think it's really hard to know for sure without a test.

[AoD]

There's absolutely no way to tell unless lab tests are run on feces/vomit to detect specific pathogens, and most people won't bother with that. Especially if you didn't eat the same food, it's even harder to tell if it's food poisoning (if you had eaten exactly the same thing, it would give a clue, but still not be a definite answer as to what it is).

Everyone else's answers are correct, a lot of people assume food poisoning when in fact it's a virus that just coincidentally happened after eating a certain food. Also "food poisoning" can also be infectious, by the way, if it's the type caused by a virus or a live bacteria, instead of just a toxin.

Both can cause fever, so that's not a way to indicate which one it is either.

[tiredofitall]

While on vacation together my friend contracted salmonella from eating clams. She had fever and chills along with d and v. She ended up at the ER where they tested her stool and confirmed salmonella. So yes, you can have fever and chills with food poisoning and salmonella is contagious. I of course researched it as we were together daily on this vacation. No one else got sick though.