You may know it as the "diarrhea of death" or "riding the porcelain bus." However you know it as, one thing is the same. Botulism is deadly. Even though it is incredibly rare, it has an incredibly high fatality rate.
Botulism is a type of bacterial food poisoning. It occurs mainly in canned goods and honey. When canned goods are improperly canned the bacteria can multiply. Lack of oxygen causes the can to expand.
Botulism is the most dangerous poison. When you have swallowed it, its is digested and absorbed by the intestine and carried into the nerves and blood stream, causing liver problems and paralysis.
Because of the paralysis, all muscles stop working. People have difficulty breathing and may need to be on respirators. Many people die from suffocation, not of botulism poison itself.
Types:
There are several types of botulism. One kind is for adults, another for infants. Infants are at a higher rate of getting it, especially from honey. The infants bodies are too young and haven't had enough time to produce enzymes and such to break down the poison.
Adults can also get infantile botulism, but it has different effects. The worst type is wound botulism, which I will talk about in a second.
Symptoms:
The symptoms for botulism are sever vomiting and diarrhea, with blood sometimes in vomit, feces, and urine. Also, fatigue nausea and bloating. Sometimes blurred or double vision and difficulty speaking and swallowing. Of course all of those things would cause to feel very tired and weak. Your muscles start to paralyze as the poison seeps in.
Symptoms generally occur within eighteen-thirty six hours of eating the contaminated food. Extremes are within four hours or a few days.
As symptoms increase without treatment, you will eventually die of respiratory failure.
Diagnosis:
To decide if someone has botulism, series of tests involving cat scans and MRIs are used. It is tricky to diagnose someone with botulism because it could just be a drug reaction or allergy.
Treatments:
Treatments for botulism are mainly respiratory. A breathing machine or tracheotomy is used. A tracheotomy is a hole in the neck, which is used to take in air.
There are no drugs for treating botulism. However, anti-toxins have been developed. An anti-toxin is used as a counteract to poison. They do not cure botulism, but lessen the severity of the illness. Infants with botulism have been cured with the treatment for horses.
Prognosis:
Botulism in the United States is extremely rare. It basically occurs only when people are careless when they notice a bulging can and eat the contents inside.
The recovery is slow , but complete. It can take weeks or months, even years to repair nerve endings.
Wound Botulism:
The worst and scariest type of botulism is wound botulism. It occurs when people are in severe accidents such as construction, earthquakes, cars, major surgery, or have done a lot of drugs. It occurs when people have had severe crushed limbs and organs and overdoses. About 4-18 days after the injury takes place the botulism sets in. When wounds are open and exposed a lot things get really bad. The worst thing about it is its diagnosis. You can't tell because there is no vomiting or diarrhea.
Future:
Vaccines for botulism exist, but are not frequently used. They haven't had enough testing to be okayed fully. I hope that soon people can have botulism vaccines. Nothing is worse than having diarrhea and vomiting at the same time!
Remember, always throw out food that looks spoiled or cans that are rusty and kind of bulging. That is the best thing you can to do protect yourself against not only botulism, but also other food illnesses. BY: LACY BARCHECK
