[eli5] What actually is food poisoning and what is happening in our bodies that make them respond so violently to it?
In: Biology
Food poisoning happens when you eat some bad bacteria living on/in your food. These bacteria (commonly staphylococcus aureus and bacillus cereus) make a toxin and spread that toxin all in your food. When you eat that toxin, your guts are like “this is a bad thing so let’s get rid of it” and your guts get rid of it with vomiting and diarrhea. The vomiting and diarrhea get rid of the bacteria and essentially clean you out.
Some bacterial diarrheas last longer but that’s because those bacteria can live in your guts and make their toxin instead of these food poisoning ones that make their toxin before you eat it.
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