Archive:000/Draft:Botulism

Botulism is a particularly deadly kind of food poisoning. Here are some key facts that people need to know to avoid the risk.

Intro

• Botulism is caused by botulinum toxin, which is produced by a type of bacteria known as clostridium botulinum.
• The toxin is what kills.
• The toxin is rare, even though the bacteria are common. The bacteria only grow and produce the toxin in specific conditions.

Under what conditions is the toxin produced

• Low acid + low oxygen
• Grows slowly compared to other bacteria ^{[QUANTIFICATION needed]}
• Salt can slow the growth even more but will not stop it (except at extremely high concentrations)

Examples of foods

• Damaged cans of food
• Food that was improperly canned (most commonly, as a home DIY project done wrong)

How does it kill

• It causes muscles to stop contracting (onset time: a day to a week) iSymptoms of botulism usually appear within 12 to 36 hours after eating food containing the neurotoxin, although there have been documented cases that ranged from 4 hours to 8 days. The earlier the symptoms appear, the more serious the disease. Treatment requires quick medical attention and an anti-toxin - https://www.fsis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media_file/2021-02/Clostridium_botulinum.pdf
• When lung muscles can't contract, breathing stops, causing death.

Treatment

• Ventilator
• Antitoxin iAntitoxin does not restore muscle control, it only prevents further damage. iThe antitoxin is produced by giving horses extremely small harmless doses of the toxin, just enough for their immune systems to produce antibodies. So technically it's not vegan, but it doesn't involve the type of cruelty of factory farmed meat. Vegan patients should probably say yes to the antitoxin because it's an exceptional circumstance and an save a life.
• Takes months for the patient to regain muscle control.
• I bet it's a terrible feeling to be awake and conscious while not being able to move for that long.

Destroying the toxin

• Heat destroys the toxin. Boiling is effective at this. i At 85°C, the toxin is destroyed within 5 minutes. At 79°C, the toxin is destroyed within 20 minutes.
• Boiling does not destroy the bacteria spores. If you boil food and then seal it in a container, the spores will eventually grow and produce the toxin again. That's why most cases of botulism happen from homemade improperly-canned food. To destroy the bacterial spores, canned food factories use higher temperatures.

Other info

• Botulinum toxin is also used in medicine - it's known as Botox.
  • A very small controlled dose can be injected into a muscle, to force that muscle to relax.
    • This helps treat patients who have severe chronic muscle cramps.
    • Or if used cosmetically, can prevent wrinkles: by injecting it into small muscles of the face, those muscles can't contract, so the skin never folds in that area.

• Botulinum toxin is considered one of the most deadly toxins known, because the lethal dose is just a few micrograms. But those micrograms do take awhile for bacteria to produce (don't be too reassured tho)

External links

• USDA - Food Safety and Inspection Service - Clostridium botulinum