Eli Manning and E.coli

In an article in International Business Times, a doctor  (and poet) "makes an arm-chaired" diagnosis that that Eli Manning had an E. coli infection prior to the playoff game with San Francisco.( http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/293025/20120204/eli-manning-sick-coli-flu-super-bowl.htm).  There are two issues with this - first, being sick for a day or so with diarrhea is insufficient evidence for calling Eli's bout of diarrhea an E. coli related illness.  E. coli infections are extremely serious and will last for more than a day or two.  It is unlikely that Eli would have ever made it to the playoff game if he truly had an E.coli infection. 

Second, and more importantly, when we call everything a foodborne disease, (such as a day of having diarrhea), we lose the importance of why food safety is so important.  It is not until someone is sitting on the pot for 3 or 4 days straight not knowing whether they will live another day, or they end up in the hospital due to severe dehydration, do people grasp what a foodborne infection is.  When people trivialize foodborne illness, they are less likely to take actions to prevent it.

So my "arm-chaired" analysis.......viral infection.