Aftereffects of a tainted meal.

A 58-year-old man presented with profuse diarrhea, abdominal distention, flatulence, weakness, and a 15-lb weight loss. The initial symptoms of nausea and vomiting had begun a week earlier, within hours of eating chicken that had not been well wrapped when purchased. Two days after symptom onset, he received intravenous rehydration therapy at another hospital. With resolution of the nausea and vomiting, he felt slightly better and went home against medical advice. He had not had fever, chills, hematochezia, melena, hematemesis, or dysuria.