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Foodborne botulism is a potentially deadly condition that’s caused by eating food contaminated with botulinum toxin, a potent toxin that attacks the body’s nervous system.The disease is ...
The Castleberry's Food Company outbreak was the first instance of botulism in commercial canned foods in the United States in over 30 years. [ 83 ] One person died, 21 cases were confirmed, and 10 more were suspected in Lancaster, Ohio when a botulism outbreak occurred after a church potluck in April 2015.
C. botulinum is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, spore-forming bacterium. [1] It is an obligate anaerobe, the organism survives in an environment that lacks oxygen.However, C. botulinum tolerates traces of oxygen due to the enzyme superoxide dismutase, which is an important antioxidant defense in nearly all cells exposed to oxygen. [7]
Botulinum toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum (an anaerobic, gram-positive bacterium) is the cause of botulism. [26] Humans most commonly ingest the toxin from eating improperly canned foods in which C. botulinum has grown. However, the toxin can also be introduced through an infected wound.
Clostridium botulinum can produce botulinum toxin in food or wounds and can cause botulism. This same toxin is known as Botox and is used in cosmetic surgery to paralyze facial muscles to reduce the signs of aging; it also has numerous other therapeutic uses.
The best by dates for the affected products range from April 30, 2009, through May 22, 2009. The contamination by the toxin is extremely rare for commercially canned products. CDC medical epidemiologist Dr. Michael Lynch said the last such U.S. case dates to the 1970s. The roughly 25 cases reported each year were mainly from home canned foods ...
Well-known exotoxins include: botulinum toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum; Corynebacterium diphtheriae toxin, produced during life-threatening symptoms of diphtheria; tetanospasmin produced by Clostridium tetani. The toxic properties of most exotoxins can be inactivated by heat or chemical treatment to produce a toxoid.
When a canned food is sterilized insufficiently, most other bacteria besides the C. botulinum spores are killed, and the spores can germinate and produce botulism toxin. [30] Botulism is a rare but serious paralytic illness, leading to paralysis that typically starts with the muscles of the face and then spreads towards the limbs. [ 31 ]