Botulism Research Paper
Botulism
The topic I chose to talk about today is botulism. Botulism neurotoxin is one of the most lethal substances known to man. Not many people are aware of what it is and its negative side-effects.
What is Botulism?
3) Botulism is a neurotoxin produced by Clostridium botulism. Botulism causes extreme and sometimes fatal food poisoning. Botulism was first identified in Germany in 1735. A person had eaten a German sausage and got food poisoning. This is how botulism got its name because botulism is derived from the Latin word for sausage. Incidence is rare in US but is of great concern because if not treated in time it can be fatal.
5) There are about 110 cases of botulism a year in the United States. About 5% of patients with botulism end up dying.
6) There are three types of botulism:
Wound Botulism
Infant Botulism
Food-borne Botulism
Sources:
Each of the types of botulism has a different source.
Wound Botulism-is acquired from an open sore and injury that has caused an opening in the skin, which has become infected with Clostridium Botulism.
Infant Botulism- happens when an infant eats food, usually honey, which has spores of Clostridium botulism. These spores will grow in the infant’s intestines and …show more content…
release the neurotoxin.
Food-borne Botulism- since Clostridium Botulism is found in soil and lives in low oxygen environments it sometimes can form spores which lie dormant until they are exposed to the necessary environment. Canned foods sometimes provide an ideal environment for the dormant spores to become active and taint the food if not preserved properly.
How it works:
The botulism neurotoxin causes paralysis of the muscles by blocking the axon terminal from releasing from releasing acetylcholine in a neuromuscular junction. The blocking of acetylcholine from being released means that the chemical gates for sodium channels can’t be opened so there won’t be an action potential and excitation-contraction coupling won’t occur also. So there will be no muscle contraction. Causing lose of muscular coordination and even respiratory failure or cardiac arrest.
Signs and Symptoms:
Symptoms usually appear within 12-36 hours
GI symptoms: nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, cramps, and constipation
CNS symptoms: Double vision, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, headache, dizziness, loss of muscle coordination, difficulty breathing, muscle weakness, and in severe cases paralysis and even coma.
Diagnosis:
Testing serum and making cultures of feces
The most direct way to confirm the diagnosis is to identify the botulism neurotoxin in the patient's blood, serum, or stool.
This is done by injecting the patient's serum or stool into the peritoneal cavity of mice. An equal amount of serum or stool from the patient is treated with multivalent antitoxin and injected in other mice. If the antitoxin-treated serum- or stool-injected mice live while those injected with untreated serum or stool die, then this is a positive test for botulism and is called the mouse inoculation test. The bacteria can also be isolated from the stool of people with food-borne and infant botulism, but this is not the best
test.
Treatment:
Treatment is done usually by giving the patient an IV of botulism antitoxin. However before the antitoxin is given to the patient the patient has to be given horse serum to see if he or she is sensitive to horse serum because most antitoxins are derived from horse serum.
There are 3 antitoxins for botulism:
: Polyvalent antitoxin: This is carried by most hospitals.
: Trivalent antitoxin: This is supplied from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
: Heptavalent antitoxin: This can be acquired from the army or FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency).
In severe causes of botulism where respiratory failure is occurred the patient will be put on a ventilator.
For wound botulism: the wound is treated and the bacterium is removed surgically.
For infant botulism: the infants are not given antitoxin but instead there is a new a product named BabyBIG, the BIG stands for Botulism Immune Globulin which is given through IV.
Prevention:
To prevent food-borne botulism: The botulism neurotoxin can be killed by high temperatures. So you should boil canned or preserved food for at least 15 minutes and if any canned food has a bulging shape on the can it should be thrown away.
To prevent wound botulism: you should get immediate medical care for any infected wound.
To prevent infant botulism: children under the age of 1 year should not be fed honey. After the age of 1 year honey is mostly safe.
Avoid purchasing any canned food where the can is swollen or looks deformed. Most likely there is something growing in the can that is causing it to swell up.
Benefits:
The botulism toxin is useful in cosmetic treatments. An example is Botox which is made of diluted pure botulism toxin. The purpose of Botox is to get rid of wrinkles and make skin look younger. Wrinkles are caused by muscle contractions; the botulism toxin blocks the release of acetylcholine therefore preventing the muscle from contracting.
The topic I chose to talk about today is botulism. Botulism neurotoxin is one of the most lethal substances known to man. Not many people are aware of what it is and its negative side-effects.
What is Botulism?
3) Botulism is a neurotoxin produced by Clostridium botulism. Botulism causes extreme and sometimes fatal food poisoning. Botulism was first identified in Germany in 1735. A person had eaten a German sausage and got food poisoning. This is how botulism got its name because botulism is derived from the Latin word for sausage. Incidence is rare in US but is of great concern because if not treated in time it can be fatal.
5) There are about 110 cases of botulism a year in the United States. About 5% of patients with botulism end up dying.
6) There are three types of botulism:
Wound Botulism
Infant Botulism
Food-borne Botulism
Sources:
Each of the types of botulism has a different source.
Wound Botulism-is acquired from an open sore and injury that has caused an opening in the skin, which has become infected with Clostridium Botulism.
Infant Botulism- happens when an infant eats food, usually honey, which has spores of Clostridium botulism. These spores will grow in the infant’s intestines and …show more content…
release the neurotoxin.
Food-borne Botulism- since Clostridium Botulism is found in soil and lives in low oxygen environments it sometimes can form spores which lie dormant until they are exposed to the necessary environment. Canned foods sometimes provide an ideal environment for the dormant spores to become active and taint the food if not preserved properly.
How it works:
The botulism neurotoxin causes paralysis of the muscles by blocking the axon terminal from releasing from releasing acetylcholine in a neuromuscular junction. The blocking of acetylcholine from being released means that the chemical gates for sodium channels can’t be opened so there won’t be an action potential and excitation-contraction coupling won’t occur also. So there will be no muscle contraction. Causing lose of muscular coordination and even respiratory failure or cardiac arrest.
Signs and Symptoms:
Symptoms usually appear within 12-36 hours
GI symptoms: nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, cramps, and constipation
CNS symptoms: Double vision, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, headache, dizziness, loss of muscle coordination, difficulty breathing, muscle weakness, and in severe cases paralysis and even coma.
Diagnosis:
Testing serum and making cultures of feces
The most direct way to confirm the diagnosis is to identify the botulism neurotoxin in the patient's blood, serum, or stool.
This is done by injecting the patient's serum or stool into the peritoneal cavity of mice. An equal amount of serum or stool from the patient is treated with multivalent antitoxin and injected in other mice. If the antitoxin-treated serum- or stool-injected mice live while those injected with untreated serum or stool die, then this is a positive test for botulism and is called the mouse inoculation test. The bacteria can also be isolated from the stool of people with food-borne and infant botulism, but this is not the best
test.
Treatment:
Treatment is done usually by giving the patient an IV of botulism antitoxin. However before the antitoxin is given to the patient the patient has to be given horse serum to see if he or she is sensitive to horse serum because most antitoxins are derived from horse serum.
There are 3 antitoxins for botulism:
: Polyvalent antitoxin: This is carried by most hospitals.
: Trivalent antitoxin: This is supplied from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
: Heptavalent antitoxin: This can be acquired from the army or FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency).
In severe causes of botulism where respiratory failure is occurred the patient will be put on a ventilator.
For wound botulism: the wound is treated and the bacterium is removed surgically.
For infant botulism: the infants are not given antitoxin but instead there is a new a product named BabyBIG, the BIG stands for Botulism Immune Globulin which is given through IV.
Prevention:
To prevent food-borne botulism: The botulism neurotoxin can be killed by high temperatures. So you should boil canned or preserved food for at least 15 minutes and if any canned food has a bulging shape on the can it should be thrown away.
To prevent wound botulism: you should get immediate medical care for any infected wound.
To prevent infant botulism: children under the age of 1 year should not be fed honey. After the age of 1 year honey is mostly safe.
Avoid purchasing any canned food where the can is swollen or looks deformed. Most likely there is something growing in the can that is causing it to swell up.
Benefits:
The botulism toxin is useful in cosmetic treatments. An example is Botox which is made of diluted pure botulism toxin. The purpose of Botox is to get rid of wrinkles and make skin look younger. Wrinkles are caused by muscle contractions; the botulism toxin blocks the release of acetylcholine therefore preventing the muscle from contracting.