Botulism is one of those diseases that strikes fear into the heart of every toxicologist and should strike fear into the heart of any physician with a brain in their head. There are 3 recognized kinds of botulism – the kind you can get from improperly canned foods (food botulism), the kind you get when you step on a rusty nail (lockjaw or wound botulism) and finally the kind that only affects infants under the age of 12 months – usually associated with eating honey or corn syrup. Currently, in the US, the infant variety is the most common, with 100-110 cases per year. Luckily, there is a pretty effective antidote, an antibody that binds up the botulinum toxin in the blood. It’s expensive, but well worth it – just look at the kid in this story! Here is a real success story of science and medicine triumphing over a deadly disease.
Infant botulism – usually associated with honey (most common type)
Wound botulism photos from the New England Journal of Medicine (this guy had been “skin popping” – injecting heroin under his skin and became infected with the Clostridium botulinum bacteria and toxin)
Canned foods – improperly vacuum sealed will harbor botulinum bacteria.
