Botulism

Notifiable infection with Clostridium botulinum.

• Transmission
• Smoked foods, canned foods, honey
• C. botulinum secretes toxins, inhibiting the presynaptic release of acetycholine

• Muscle paralysis
• Mouth dryness
• Visual disturbances

• Anamnesis (what was eaten?)
• Clinic

• Mandatory reporting
• Hospitalisation (CAVE: renal insufficiency)
• Treatment with a botulism antitoxin (A-G) and/or B. immunoglobulin

• Note:
  A lack of botulinum toxin has become unthinkable in beauty medicine today. Through the mode of action described above, wrinkles, torticollis and hyperhidrosis are treated today.

1. Rosow LK , Strober JB. Infant botulism: review and clinical update. Pediatr Neurol 2015;52:487-92.
2. Chalk CH, Benstead TJ , Keezer M. Medical treatment for botulism. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2014;2:CD008123.
3. Brown N , Desai S. Infantile botulism: a case report and review. J Emerg Med 2013;45:842-5.
4. Moreira GM, Cunha CE, Salvarani FM, Goncalves LA, Pires PS, Conceicao FR et al. Production of recombinant botulism antigens: a review of expression systems. Anaerobe 2014;28:130-6.
5. Webb RP , Smith LA. What next for botulism vaccine development? Expert Rev Vaccines 2013;12:481-92.