MAIL ONLINE: How food poisoning ruined my gut (and my life) for YEARS': Half a million sufferers could be left with lifelong ailments such as heart problems or arthritis

Description

The longer-term impact of food poisoning was first identified many years ago, says Peter Whorwell, a professor of gastroenterology at the University of Manchester. 

'But it's been pretty much ignored, and is grossly underestimated,' he adds.

The problem, he says, is no one makes the connection, and typical symptoms can then worsen into chronic diseases.

'When doctors see a patient's symptoms they don't tend to take a proper history of where symptoms started or try to pin down the original trigger — which, in my experience, may well be gastroenteritis [gut problems as a result of food poisoning].