5天前的意大利面或米飯會害死你

吃5天前的意大利面或米飯會害死你

If meat is left out on the counter for too long, we all know we need to throw it out. But what about rice or pasta?

如果肉在柜臺上放太久，我們都知道我們需要扔掉它。但是米飯和意大利面呢?

Although that carby goodness might seem harmless after sitting on the bench for a bit, you'll probably think twice about it once you hear about the bacterium Bacillus cereus.

盡管坐在長凳上一段時間后，這種碳水化合物的好處似乎是無害的，但一旦你聽說蠟樣芽胞桿菌，你可能會三思而后行。

It's not a particularly rare germ. B. cereus will happily live wherever it can – soil, food, or in the gut.

它不是一種特別罕見的細菌。蠟樣芽胞桿菌將快樂地生活在任何可能的地方-土壤、食物或內(nèi)臟。

Some strains of this bacterium are helpful for probiotics, but others can give you a nasty bout of food poisoning if given the ability to grow and proliferate - such as when you store food in the wrong conditions.

這種細菌的一些菌株對益生菌有幫助，但如果賦予它們生長和增殖的能力，比如當(dāng)你在錯誤的條件下儲存食物時，其他菌株會讓你嚴(yán)重食物中毒。

The worst scenarios can even bring death.

最糟糕的情況甚至?xí)?dǎo)致死亡。

In 2005, one such case was recorded in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology - five children in one family got sick from eating four-day-old pasta salad.

2005年，《臨床微生物學(xué)雜志》(Journal of Clinical Microbiology)上記錄了一個這樣的病例——一個家庭中有五個孩子因為吃了四天之久的意大利面沙拉而生病。

According to the case study, pasta salad was prepared on a Friday, taken to a picnic on Saturday. After coming back from the picnic it was stored in the fridge until Monday evening, when the kids were fed it for dinner.

根據(jù)案例研究，意大利面沙拉是在周五準(zhǔn)備的，周六帶去野餐。野餐回來后，一直放在冰箱里，直到星期一晚上，處在在孩子們吃晚飯的時候。

That night the children began vomiting, and were taken to hospital. Tragically, the youngest child died; another suffered from liver failure but survived, and the others had less severe food poisoning and could be treated with fluids.

那天晚上孩子們開始嘔吐，被送進了醫(yī)院。不幸的是，最小的孩子死了;另一個患上肝衰竭卻活了下來，其他孩子食物中毒不嚴(yán)重，可以用液體治療。

But how can it cause such severe food poisoning, and is there anything we can do?

但是它是如何引起如此嚴(yán)重的食物中毒的呢?我們能做些什么呢?

"It is important for people to wash their hands properly and prepare food according to safety guidelines," says Mathur.

馬圖爾說：“對人們來說，正確洗手和按照安全指南準(zhǔn)備食物是很重要的。”

"Further, heating left-over food properly will destroy most bacteria and their toxins."

此外，適當(dāng)加熱食物會破壞大部分細菌和毒素。