Posted Wednesday November 22, 2012 --- 5:45 p.m.

For adults it may start off as a cough or a slight upper respiratory infection. But for an infant, especially one that has not had all of its immunizations, it could turn into whooping cough.

Whooping cough is just one of the things that Ellen Smith an Epidemiologist at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison says you should be worried about come Thanksgiving.

Food born illnesses are the other. She says bacteria thrives in temps between 40 and 140-degrees and depending on the surface it could survive for several days.

On a surface like a counter top that isn't porous bacteria could live for a couple of hours. However on a sponge that is porous bacteria could live for several days.

According to Mike Halberg, an ER doctor at St. Mary's, there are other hidden dangers lurking on T-Day. One of the most common is cuts.

" You have a knife that's got turkey on it or has food on it, you're kind of distracted by other conversations. So you end up just basically getting your finger as it goes through or slips. "

The cause according to the good doctor is inattentive cutting. More people are around and folks get distracted. Another less common, but more serious problem is choking.

Dr. Halberg says, " So then you take that food and you think its all prepared. You think you've got the bone out of it and then that bone lodges on its way down. "

Dr. Halberg says the best way to combat the thanksgiving day threats is to pay attention.