Hi again!  Find out exactly why those weird-sounding Filipino street foods merit a warning of 'eat at your own risk':

• Staphylococcus aureus (Call me Staph for short)
     Hi.  You can find me on your airways, skin, and superficial wounds.  If food is left at room temperature for several hours, I quickly multiply and produce a toxin.  Cooking kills me but not my toxin (LOL), which is capable of producing explosive loose watery diarrhea and vomiting after 2-6 hours.  Hear about those children's parties where most of the children got sick that very night?  A lot of those incidents were my work, thank you very much.  Good personal hygiene while preparing food and refrigeration of foods:  these two practices are the bane of existence, as I won't be able to proliferate.But, there's always someone out there who's just careless enough...
• Salmonella (Hi.  I like my name as it is.  It's so pretty, don't you think?  Why don't you name your daughter after me?)  
     There are lots of us in the intestines of birds, reptiles, and mammals.  You hear that? Intestines (Just think about that isaw or IUD that you had for merienda today.  Maybe I'm swimming around in your gut right now!).  I can also be found in raw eggs, and in water tainted with feces.  I can cause an acute form of gastroentritis (vomiting and loose watery diarrhea again, my two inseparable friends).  However, I am more famous for causing the dreaded typhoid fever which manifests with prolonged fever, diarrhea/constipation, and abdominal pain, which can keep you in the hospital for weeks.  Thank you, thank you, no applause is needed.
• Escherichia coli (Call me E. coli for short.  That's pronounced Ee-Kolay)
     Even though I'm found in your intestines too, I can also be found in the intestines of other animals such as cattle.  Thus, I'm often transmitted by water tainted with feces.  I cause a severe, bloody, sometimes mucoid (you know that disgusting fluid that drips from your nose when you have a cold) diarrhea with painful abdominal cramps which can rapidly become much worse, so if you get these symptoms, you better get yourself to a hospital quick!
• Vibrio cholera (Does my second name ring a bell to you?  I'm very popular in Africa.)
     I can be borne on anything you put inside your mouth--food or water, again if it it tainted with feces.  I've caused so many outbreaks since ancient times that I've killed more people than some wars.  The symptoms of extremely profuse watery diarrhea can start within one hour and can kill within three hours if not treated, especially little children, as my toxin can literally drain all the fluids from their bodies.
• Shigella (I'm another one with an adorable name)
     I'm most commonly found on improperly handled salads (potato, chicken, seafood), raw vegetables, milk and other dairy products, and meat products especially poulty.  However, I can also be borne through feces-tainted water.  The diarrhea I produce is usually blood-tinged, or termed dysenteric.
• Bacillus cereus (I love Filipinos and Chinese!)
     I can survive cooking as a heat-resistant spore and then proliferate when the storage temperature is incorrect.  I love starchy food such as rice, macaroni, and potato dishes (especially fried rice! Yum!).  Thus, if you don't want any brush with me, make sure you serve or reheat your foods to a very high temperature!

  ---