Botulism, the Deadly Toxin

1662 Words4 Pages

Botulism is a rare but very serious paralytic illness that is caused by the botulinum toxin that is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. C. botulinum is a gram positive, anaerobic, spore forming bacterium that is naturally occurring in soil. Botulism dates back to the eighteenth century when the first food borne botulism was documented. During this time many people were doing home fermented sausages and this was thought to be the cause of botulism. This is how the toxin got its name since “Botulism” in Latin comes from “botulus” which means sausage. E. van Ermengen was the first to discover the microbe in 1897 after there was a food borne outbreak in Ellezelles, Belgium. To date there are six forms of botulism but only two forms were known until the twentieth century which were food borne and wound botulism. The first type of botulism is food borne which is a result of ingesting food that contains the pre-form toxin. Some foods that this typically occurs in are home canned vegetables, cured pork and ham and smoked or raw fish. Wound botulism is the result of C. botulinum spores growing in a contaminated wound with in vivo production. Most people that get wound botulism usually have deep and contained avascular areas and many people also had compound fractures. Wound botulism is on the rise in the U.S. because of the use of illicit drugs, “the majority were linked to injectable drug use, particularly with so-called ‘black tar heroin’ and others with nasal or sinus lesions due to chronic cocaine sniffing.” (CDC website) Another form of botulism is infant botulism. This is caused from the endogenous production of toxin germinating spores of C. botulinum in the intestines of the infants. Also feeding an infant...

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...on and it would require another dose of the botulism toxin. The only side effect noted was double vision and it was for a brief time, not permanent.

Works Cited

The low down on the Botox firm up. (2002, October). Today’s science. Retrieved from http://tsof.infobaselearning.com/recordurl.aspx?wid=97060&ID=19082
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (1998). Botulism. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/botulism/

Gordons, S. (2006, February 1). Drug Helps Babies Fight Deadly Botulism. HealthyDay Consumer News Service.
JIU-CONG, Z., LI, S.,& QING-HE, N. (2010). Botulism, where are we now?. Clinical Toxicology (15563650), 48(9), 867-879. doi: 103109/15563650.2010.535003
Kent, H. (2003). Botulinum shows effect in anticholinergic failures. Urology Times, 32(12), 12-13.
Treichet, J. A. (1982). Botulism toxin treats crossed eyes. Science News, 121(21), 341.

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