Food poisoning in Paris – A Brit’s perspective

Halifax, U.K., marketing consultant and Twitter fanatic Rachel McAlley writes in her blog for the Evening Courier that,

I toddled off to Paris for a romantic weekend back in early March and what a culinary mistake that was.

On the very last evening of my trip I started with a fever, then sickness, and didn’t have a clue what was wrong with me until my boyfriend said it was food poisoning.

As it turns out I’ve never really experienced proper food poisoning before, this was a killer. I couldn’t walk, started to hallucinate, was violently sick (and the other end), and to top it all off I kept passing out!

After somehow making it to the airport, I don’t remember getting there, or boarding the plane or the actual flight. I do however remember continually passing out and wanting to curl up on a cold floor to sleep for a very long time.

The next five days are a blur, plenty of doctors, lots of drugs, the loss of 12lbs, no food, more sleep than ever before, and the diagnosis of Campylobacter enteritis. This was the killer!

It’s the middle of April and I feel like I’ve lost a whole month of my life from eating a piece of diseased chicken whilst on the Champs Elysee in glorious Paris. Maybe I’ll have a romantic weekend in Scarborough next time.

This entry was posted in Other Microorganisms and tagged , , by Douglas Powell. Bookmark the permalink.

About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time