Talk:Botulism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Botulism is part of WikiProject Microbiology, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Microbiology and microbiology-related topics. Please work to improve this article, or visit our project page to find other ways of helping. |
||
| B | This article has been rated as B-Class on the assessment scale. |
||
| Top | This article is on a subject of top-importance within microbiology. | ||
|
Article Grading: The article has been rated for quality and/or importance but has no comments yet. If appropriate, please review the article and then leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need. |
|||
Contents |
[edit] Removed this paragraph:
One common symptom is a certain rigidity to the arms - botulism patients have often been compared to dinosaurs such as the mighty T-rex for their distinctive arm position. The T-Rex arm positioning has also been compared that of malformed babies born with stumpy.
Text from a coulple of flashcards I wrote. Information already integrated into Clostridium botulinum and Botulism. maveric149
[edit] Table
| 1) Year, 1st recognized & isolated? | 1) 1896 (Van Ermengem) |
| 2) Microbe involved? | 2) Clostridium botulinum |
| 3) Properties.... | 3) spore-forming, anaerobic bacillus |
| 4) Subtypes produce... | 4) 7 toxins (1/sub-sp) A-G types ¹ |
| 5) U.S. outbrakes are due to types... | 5) A, B (soil) or E (fish) ² |
| 6) Symptoms develope... | 6) between 12-36 hours |
| 7) Symptoms are... | 7) dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, double vision, vomiting, diarrhea |
| 8) Which is of most concern? | 8) respiratory failure |
| ¹ Types C & D are not human pathogens. A "mouse protection" test determines the type of C. botulinum present (antibodies used). | |
| ² A & B found in soil. Type E is found in fish. Optimum temp for A & B is 35-40° C. Minimum pH is 4.6. 25 min @ 100°C to kill. Optimum temp for E is 18-25. Minimum pH is 5.0. <0.1 min @ 100°C to kill. | |
| 1) Mode of action of toxin. | 1) blocks the release of acetylcholine from nerve endings ¹ |
| 2) Infant botulism: characteristics... | 2) most common type in US, germinating spores in gut, results in; constipation, weakness, loss of head control & difficulty feeding |
| 3) One possible cause... | 3) under pastuerized honey |
| 4) Why does infection occur? | 4) lack of competitive inhibition from adult microflora |
|
¹ Infection does not occur in healthy adults & children more than 1 year old. Rather, the toxin made by C. botulinum causes illness. |
|
[edit] Most potent toxin on earth?
It is true that Botulism toxin us normally referred to as "the most potent toxin on earth." I am unsure of the accuracy of that statement. I just finished editing the article, with special attention to infant botulism, as I am a California pediatrician with some experience in that disease.
I thought about adding information regarding the theoretical use of botulinum toxin as a tool of bioterrorism, but decided against it. I don't want to give the loonies any ideas.
I hope my edits don't arouse any controversy. I changed the term "infection" to the more technically correct "colonization," and de-emphasized the link to honey, as it is not a major player. I also edited some aspects of infant physiology (e.g. acidity of the stomach) and bacteriology (spores vs. bacteria, etc.). Finally, updated the "treatment" section to reflect current recommendations of treatment for infants with BabyBIG. If I have time, I will come back and reference some of those edits. I also have some cool pictures, but believe they are likely copyright protected. Pkoetters 00:33, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Honey
I removed the following untrue statement from the article:
- Many cases are caused by the under-pasteurization of honey and other foods (under-pasteurization occurs often in honey and other foods labelled as "organic" or "natural").
It is not true for the following reasons: 1. Clostridium botulinum spores are everywhere, not just in honey. The best place to find them is in your vacuum cleaner bag, which indicates the wideness of their presence. They are very hard to kill, which is why they can survive in honey, which kills most pathogens. 2. Pasteurization of honey would not kill Clostridium botulinum spores. If enough heat were applied to kill the spores, honey would be utterly ruined. This would be true for many other foods as well. Canned goods that are low acid (such as green beans) must be processed at very high heat to be safe. 3. Even if all spores were killed, simply exposing the honey for a few moments to the air (with dust) would reintroduce the spores. This is true of any other food as well.
I also would ask for documentation (primary sources only) that honey is proven to be the cause of infant botulism. Honey may be a suspect but has not been shown to actually be the source. This would be hard to prove, anyway, and probably moot, since the spores are literally everywhere. Wikipedia should not propagate myths. I will correct the statement about honey and botulism. Pollinator 04:21, 24 Feb 2004 (UTC)
- That doesn't seem right, because I was under the impression that Clostridium botulinum was an obligate anearobe, which would mean that exposing a food to air would not introduce spores.
- You're correct that C. botulinum is an obligate anaerobe, but Pollinator is talking about the spores. The spores really are everywhere and that's how Clostridium rods protect themselves - by making hardy spores so they don't die. C. tetani does the same thing, when it enters a deep wound and its spores germinate and cause tetanus. It's when the _spores_ come into an anaerobic environment that they "hatch," so to speak, and then the bacterium comes out and the cascade begins. This way the bacteria gets the best of both worlds; since it's a spore-former, it can survive - not thrive, survive - in our environment and then germinate when the environment changes to anaerobic. I hope that helps. - ddlamb 08:24, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
- The FDA link given at the bottom of the article places the honey issue in perspective: "Of the various potential environmental sources such as soil, cistern water, dust and foods, honey is the one dietary reservoir of C. botulinum spores thus far definitively linked to infant botulism by both laboratory and epidemiologic studies." This clearly does not say that other causes are any less important, simply that they have not been identified. (update: 1 case of infant formula was reported in 2005) --Seejyb 21:05, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Uses
How about something on Botox? At least a link to the article Botox PrometheusX303 15:09, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
- Botox is botulin toxin JFW | T@lk 15:46, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
-
- Ok I think I understand. Both articles branch from Clostridium botulinum, botulism being an illness caused by the toxin, Botox being the toxin in commercial form. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by PrometheusX303 (talk • contribs) .
[edit] Lemon olive oil
I read about the risk of garlic-flavored oil. Is there a similar risk in leaving lemon rinds stored in olive oil? Does it matter if the bottle is slightly open? --84.20.17.84 13:02, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
- Regrettably, we aren't able to give specific advice in cases like this. You should contact your local poison control and they can either answer your question or advise you. Anchoress 17:54, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Bananas
Where did the last sentence of Treatment (the banana bit) come from? The placement of the citation would lead one to believe that it is supported by the FDA article, which is most definitely is NOT. Further, the purported calmative affect of bananas is a complete non sequitur, since calming the stomach would have no impact on the illness (or a very negative impact, if the supposition is true that lack of stomach acidity encourages C. Botulinum’s colonisation). I am moving the citation back one sentence to the part the FDA article actually supports, but leaving the banana bit with a citation needed tag. If the editor who introduced that titbit could cite it, that would be appreciated. {Kevin/Lastin posting sans cookies} 12.96.58.22 15:34, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
- I'm going to call WP:BOLLOCKS on this one and just cut the line out all together. If anybody can support it, they can put it back. – ClockworkSoul 22:17, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Mortality Rate
Between 1910 and 1919, the death rate from botulism was 70 percent in the United States ... Up to 60% of botulism cases can be fatal if left untreated.
This implies that between 1910 and 1919 treatment actually killed more people than the disease would have if the people were left untreated. Otherwise it should say that up to 70% of cases could be fatal if untreated, given mortality rate in the 1910's. No references were cited for these statistics, which makes it a little more tricky to work out what's going on.
203.206.161.248 01:38, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
