Botulism is a serious illness caused by the botulinum toxin. The toxin causes paralysis. Paralysis starts in the face and spreads to the limbs. If it reaches the breathing muscles, respiratory failure can result.
The toxin is produced by Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum), a type of bacterium.
All types of botulism eventually lead to paralysis, so any case of botulism is treated as a medical emergency.
In the past, it was often fatal, but antitoxins have significantly improved the outlook.
Symptoms:
They can vary between 3 hours and 8 days.
In wound botulism, the nerves that connect the brain to the spine, known as the cranial nerves, experience the first symptoms. This then spreads to the rest of the body. The incubation period is from 4 days to 2 weeks.
Neurological signs and symptoms of adult, food-borne, and wound botulism are the same, but the symptoms of wound botulism ones may take longer to appear.
The patient may experience double or blurred vision, the eyelids may droop, there will be facial weakness, dry mouth,dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, and speech slurring. Muscles will become weak.
Next, paralysis will set in. Without treatment, the patient’s breathing muscles will eventually become paralyzed, resulting in respiratory failure and death.
The patient remains conscious during this process.
In infant botulism, signs and symptoms may include:
- constipation
- poor feeding
- bad temper
- excessive drooling when feeding
- sagging eyelids
- flat facial expression
- lethargy and listlessness
- respiratory difficulties
- slow or improper reflexes
- weak crying weakly
- floppiness and poor muscle tone
- no gag reflex
- unfocused eyes
- weak sucking
