Botulism (from Latin botulus, botulism food poisoning "sausage") is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by a nerve toxin, botulin, that is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Botulin is the most potent known toxin, blocking nerve function and leading to respiratory and musculoskeletal paralysis.
There are three main kinds of botulism:
Foodborne botulism is a form of foodborne illness and is caused by eating foods that contain the botulism toxin.
Wound botulism is caused by toxin produced botulism disease from a wound infected with Clostridium dogs botulism botulinum.
Infant botulism is caused by consuming the spores of the botulinum bacteria, which then grow in botulism matambre botulism outbreak from garlic in oil the intestines and release toxin.
All forms of botulism can be fatal and are considered medical emergencies. Foodborne botulism can be especially dangerous as a public health problem because many people can be poisoned from a single contaminated food source.
In the United States an average of 110 food-borne botulism cases of botulism are reported each year. Of these, approximately 25% are foodborne, 72% are infant botulism, and the rest are wound botulism.
Outbreaks of foodborne botulism involving two or more persons occur during most years and moldy bread botulism usually are caused by eating contaminated home-canned foods. The number of cases of foodborne and infant botulism preparation of botulism toxin has changed little in recent years, but botulism + case report form wound botulism has increased because of the use of black-tar heroin, especially in California.
Botulism: definition and classification
