Online forum for foodborne illnesses: www.RUSick2.msu.edu.People who are experiencing sudden vomiting vomiting, ejection of food and other matter from the stomach through the mouth, often preceded by nausea. The process is initiated by stimulation of the vomiting center of the brain by nerve impulses from the gastrointestinal tract or other part of the body. and diarrhea--strong symptoms of food poisoning--can go to this Web site to see if others have reported eating the same foods or are experiencing the same symptoms. The site was developed at the Michigan State University Michigan State University, at East Lansing; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1855. It opened in 1857 as Michigan Agricultural College, the first state agricultural college. (MSU MSU Michigan State University MSU Mississippi State University MSU Montana State University MSU Minnesota State University MSU Morehead State University (Kentycky) MSU Montclair State University ) National Food Safety and Toxicology Center. "This brings food poisoning food poisoning, acute illness following the eating of foods contaminated by bacteria, bacterial toxins, natural poisons, or harmful chemical substances. It was once customary to classify all such illnesses as "ptomaine poisoning," but it was later discovered that victims together and lets them compare notes," said Holly Wethington, an MSU graduate student who is managing the project. Believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, the Web site allows users to fill out an online survey to determine how many other forum users with the same symptoms are the same foods from the same source at the same time. The survey has been adapted to take as long as the visitor wishes--he or she can enter just symptoms, or continue and enter a food history, and maybe even food sources, if time permits. "Before, no one knew if they were part of a cluster," said Paul Bartlett, an NFSTC NFSTC National Forensic Science Technology Center NFSTC National Food Safety & Toxicology Center NFSTC New South Wales Firearm Safety and Training Council Ltd (Australia) professor who developed the site. "Many people automatically blame their last restaurant. In most instances, the forum will help convince people who are ill that they are not part of a foodborne-outbreak cluster." Originally launched in November 2002, the Web site was designed to detect clusters of suspected food poisoning cases in three Michigan counties. It has since expanded to a national level because of the number of reports from all over the country. The RUSick2 project is funded by a $600,000 grant from the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor The Michigan Life Sciences Corridor (MLSC) is a $1 billion biotechnology initiative in the U.S. state of Michigan. It started in 1999 with money from the state's settlement with the tobacco industry. . |
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