Botulism history and symptoms
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Michael Maddaleni, B.S.
Overview
Botulism symptoms ranges from mild to very severe in some cases. The common symptoms generally are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and dysphagia. The common symptoms in adult are double vision, blurred vision and slurred speech. The common in the infants constipation and weak crying. Botulism affects mainly the nervous system and may lead to paralysis.
History and Symptoms
Botulism patients present with rapidly progressive neuromuscular malfunction. They can give history of eating rotten food specially fish in adults and honey in the children. Patients typically give history of diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and difficulty in swallowing.
| Adult botulism | Infant botulism | |
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| Most common symptoms | The most common symptoms of botulism include the following:[1]
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Infants less than 12 months of age are susceptible, with 95% of cases occurring between the ages of 3 weeks and 6 months of age at presentation. The mode of action of this form is through colonization by germinating spores in the gut of an infant. Symptoms include:
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| Less common symptoms |
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Food-borne and Wound Botulism
- Classic symptoms of food-borne botulism usually occur between 12–36 hours after consuming the botulinum toxin. However, they can occur as early as 6 hours or as late as 10 days after.
- Wound botulism has a longer incubation period, usually between 4–14 days.
- Common symptoms of either form usually include:[2]
- Dry mouth
- Difficulty swallowing
- Slurred speech
- Drooping eyelids
- Muscle weakness
- Double and/or blurred vision
- Vomiting
- Blatter
- Sometimes diarrhea
- These symptoms may progress to cause paralytic ileus with severe constipation, and eventually body paralysis. The respiratory muscles are affected as well, which may cause death due to respiratory failure. These are all symptoms of the muscle paralysis caused by the bacterial toxin.
In all cases illness is caused by the toxin made by C. botulinum, not by the bacterium itself. The pattern of damage occurs because the toxin affects nerves that are firing more often.[3]
References
- ↑ CDC https://www.cdc.gov/botulism/symptoms.html Accessed on May 19, 2017
- ↑ Hughes JM, Blumenthal JR, Merson MH, Lombard GL, Dowell VR, Gangarosa EJ (1981). "Clinical features of types A and B food-borne botulism". Ann Intern Med. 95 (4): 442–5. PMID 7283294.
- ↑ Oxford Textbook of Medicine, 4th Ed., Section 7.55