Botulism

Botulism is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by a nerve toxin that is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum . Botulism is caused by eating foods that contain the botulism toxin. The botulism toxin is destroyed by high temperatures, why boiling the food for 10 minutes before eating it to ensure safety is recommended.

Manifestations: The classic symptoms begin 18 to 36 hours after eating contaminated food, but they can occur as early as 6 hours or as late as 10 days.

Symptoms of botulism include:

• double vision,
• blurred vision
• drooping eyelids
• slurred speech
• difficulty swallowing
• dry mouth
• muscle weakness
• muscle paralysis of the arms, legs, trunk and respiratory muscles.

Diagnose and treatment: The toxin and the bacteria can be demonstrated in the contaminated food or in the stomach. Therapy is available.

Prevent botulism by:

• good kitchen hygiene

Botulism Resource:

Rapid detection of foodborne botulism outbreaks facilitated by epidemiological linking of cases: implications for food defense and public health response.
Newkirk RW, Hedberg CW.
Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2012 Feb;9(2):150-5
Large outbreak of suspected botulism in a dairy herd in northern England.
[No authors listed]
Vet Rec. 2011 Dec 24-31;169(26):675-8. No abstract available.
Infant botulism and botulism immune globulin in the UK: a case series of four infants.
Ramroop S, Williams B, Vora S, Moshal K.
Arch Dis Child. 2012 Jan 30. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available.
Preclinical safety assessment of recombinant botulinum vaccine A/B (rBV A/B).
Shearer JD, Manetz TS, House RV.
Vaccine. 2012 Jan 23. [Epub ahead of print
Intestinal toxemia botulism in 3 adults, ontario, Canada, 2006-2008.
Sheppard YD, Middleton D, Whitfield Y, Tyndel F, Haider S, Spiegelman J, Swartz RH, Nelder MP, Baker SL, Landry L, Maceachern R, Deamond S, Ross L, Peters G, Baird M, Rose D, Sanders G, Austin JW.
Emerg Infect Dis. 2012 Jan;18(1):1-6. doi: 10.3201/eid1801.110533
Asymmetric type f botulism with cranial nerve demyelination.
Filozov A, Kattan JA, Jitendranath L, Smith CG, Lúquez C, Phan QN, Fagan RP.
Emerg Infect Dis. 2012 Jan;18(1):102-4. doi: 10.3201/eid1801.110471
A novel strategy for development of recombinant antitoxin therapeutics tested in a mouse botulism model.
Mukherjee J, Tremblay JM, Leysath CE, Ofori K, Baldwin K, Feng X, Bedenice D, Webb RP, Wright PM, Smith LA, Tzipori S, Shoemaker CB.
PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e29941. Epub 2012 Jan 6
The fur transcription regulator and fur-regulated genes in Clostridium botulinum A ATCC 3502.
Zhang W, Ma J, Zang C, Song Y, Liu P.
J Biomed Biotechnol. 2011;2011:934756. Epub 2011 Dec 12
Visceral botulism at dairy farms in Schleswig Holstein, Germany - Prevalence of Clostridium botulinum in feces of cows, in animal feeds, in feces of the farmers, and in house dust.
Krüger M, Große-Herrenthey A, Schrödl W, Gerlach A, Rodloff A.
Anaerobe. 2011 Dec 21. [Epub ahead of print
Chronic Clostridium botulinum infections in farmers.
Rodloff AC, Krüger M.
Anaerobe. 2011 Dec 22. [Epub ahead of print
Three outbreaks of foodborne botulism caused by unsafe home canning of vegetables--Ohio and Washington, 2008 and 2009.
Date K, Fagan R, Crossland S, Maceachern D, Pyper B, Bokanyi R, Houze Y, Andress E, Tauxe R.
J Food Prot. 2011 Dec;74(12):2090-6
An outbreak of food-borne botulism in Scotland, United Kingdom, November 2011.
Browning LM, Prempeh H, Little C, Houston C, Grant K, Cowden JM; United Kingdom Botulism Incident Management Team.
Euro Surveill. 2011 Dec 8;16(49):20036
Two cases of food-borne botulism in Finland caused by conserved olives, October 2011.
Jalava K, Selby K, Pihlajasaari A, Kolho E, Dahlsten E, Forss N, Bäcklund T, Korkeala H, Honkanen-Buzalski T, Hulkko T, Derman Y, Järvinen A, Kotilainen H, Kultanen L, Ruutu P, Lyytikaïnen O, Lindström M.
Euro Surveill. 2011 Dec 8;16(49):20034
Two outbreaks of botulism associated with consumption of green olive paste, France, September 2011.
Pingeon JM, Vanbockstael C, Popoff MR, King LA, Deschamps B, Pradel G, Dupont H, Spanjaard A, Houdard A, Mazuet C, Belaizi B, Bourgeois S, Lemgueres S, Debbat K, Courant P, Quirin R, Malfait P.
Euro Surveill. 2011 Dec 8;16(49):20035
Discovery of a novel enzymatic cleavage site for botulinum neurotoxin F5.
Kalb SR, Baudys J, Webb RP, Wright P, Smith TJ, Smith LA, Fernández R, Raphael BH, Maslanka SE, Pirkle JL, Barr JR.
FEBS Lett. 2012 Jan 20;586(2):109-15. Epub 2011 Dec 9
Synergy of tendon stem cells and platelet-rich plasma in tendon healing.
Chen L, Dong SW, Liu JP, Tao X, Tang KL, Xu JZ.
J Orthop Res. 2011 Dec 12. doi: 10.1002/jor.22033. [Epub ahead of print
Two cases of type A infant botulism in Grenoble, France: no honey for infants.
Hoarau G, Pelloux I, Gayot A, Wroblewski I, Popoff MR, Mazuet C, Maurin M, Croizé J.
Eur J Pediatr. 2011 Dec 10. [Epub ahead of print
Beltless Translocation Domain of Botulinum Neurotoxin A Embodies a Minimum Ion-conductive Channel.
Fischer A, Sambashivan S, Brunger AT, Montal M.
J Biol Chem. 2012 Jan 13;287(3):1657-61. Epub 2011 Dec 12
Botulism toxemia following laparoscopic appendectomy.
Nystrom SC, Wells EV, Pokharna HS, Johnson LE, Najjar MA, Mamou FM, Rudrik JT, Miller CE, Boulton ML.
Clin Infect Dis. 2012 Feb;54(4):e32-4. Epub 2011 Dec 5
Bioterrorism: preparing the plastic surgeon.
Chopra K, Conde-Green A, Folstein MK, Knepp EK, Christy MR, Singh DP.
Eplasty. 2011;11:e47. Epub 2011 Nov 23
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