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Clostrdium Botulinum
Clostrdium Botulinum
Clostridium Botulinum is a pill shaped sporeforming bacteria that produces a neurotoxic protein. It is an anaerobic gram-positive bacillus with subterminal spore that may grow in foods under certain conditions. It is ubiquitous, widely distributed as a saprophyte in soil, animal manure, vegetables, and sea mud. C. Botulinum is not itself invasive. It is a pathogen because it secretes a toxic neurotoxin called “Botulinum Toxin” (BT). BT is now most commonly used for the plastic surgery procedure know as Botox. Although, botulism, the food illness is rare, its mortality rate is high. There have been 962 recorded botulism outbreaks in the United States from 1899 to 1990 involving 2320 cases and 1036 deaths.
Treatment
Treatment
Doctors treat botulism with a drug called an antitoxin, which prevents the toxin from causing any more harm. Antitoxin does not heal the damage the toxin has already done. Depending on how severe your symptoms are, you may need to stay in the hospital for weeks or even months before you are well enough to go home. More severe cases require a ventilator and antibiotics.
Statistics
Statistics
There are an average of 27.5 cases of foodborne botulism each year. (CDC 2013)
Foodborne outbreaks have been reported in 46 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC.
Five western states, California, Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska, have accounted for more than half of all reported foodborne outbreaks since 1950.
Foodborne botulism is a distinctive public health problem among the Alaska Native population, in which the majority of botulism cases have been associated with improper preparation and storage of traditional Alaska native foods.
Interview with an expert, food scientist, Victoria Lee
Q1: What are the risks for botulism with respect to preparing foods?
Clostridium Botulinum is a bacteria commonly found in soil and the environment.
When preparing food, there are certain conditions in food in which Clostridium Botulinum can grow (and thus produce toxins):
Low Acid
Anaerobic Conditions
Temperature Conditions
Botulism risk is commonly associated with improper processing of home canned of low-acid foods such as vegetables, meats, and certain low-acid fruits. Outbreaks in home-canned foods usually occur from one of the following reasons: using internet recipes for canning instead of research based recipes from the USDA, not following the correct heat and processing times, ignoring signs of food spoilage, or not using pressure canners for low acid foods.
Though Botulism poisoning is a concern generally associated with home canning, though it can also occur in other foods as well.
I remember when this story happened in 2017 at a gas station in Walnut Grove, CA. The cheese sauce was contaminated at the store level, and was being improperly served at incorrect temperatures. A lot of people got sick!!
Q2: Are you aware of any specific concerns for infants?
Infant botulism occurs mostly in infants under the age of 1. Clostridium Botulinum spores (botulism spores are different from the toxin. See here for an explanation: Botulinum Spores vs Toxin. The spore itself does not cause illness, but a spore can grow into active state bacteria (which can then produce the botulinum toxin) can pose an issue for babies and grow in their intestines because they do not have a developed immune system yet. For this reason, parents are warned to not feed honey to children before the age of 1. Honey usually does not have the conditions to grow/produce Clostridium botulinum and it’s toxins, but it can be a source for spore contamination.
Q3: Anything that you would like to share?
The sources below are great resources for additional information, and were used for most of the information stated above.
Sources from interviewee:
https://ucanr.edu/sites/mfp_of_cs/files/312269.pdf
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/botulism
https://www.cdc.gov/botulism/general.html
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