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The disease is considered fatal.
Botulism is a rare but very serious disease. The disease can take many forms, but the most common is foodborne – it is caused by improper processing and failure to comply with food storage conditions.
What we will tell you
What is botulism?
“Botulism is a serious infectious disease. It is not spread from person to person. Most outbreaks are caused by eating contaminated products.”
The disease is caused by Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that produces a dangerous toxin (botulinum toxin) in low oxygen conditions. data World Health Organization (train), botulinum toxins are among the most lethal substances known. They impede nerve function and can cause respiratory and muscle paralysis.
Causes of botulism
Botulinum toxins enter the body through improperly processed foods. They live, grow, and produce toxins in low-oxygen environments.
precious information Rosneft In Russia, people often contract botulism after eating sealed canned foods, homemade pickles and smoked foods, which are impermeable to air and create favorable conditions for preserving disease pathogens.
At the same time, the appearance, taste and smell of the product remain unchanged.
Symptoms of botulism
According to doctors, the insidious thing about botulism is that the disease begins with the familiar symptoms of food poisoning: nausea, vomiting. However, there is a distinctive feature – at the same time, the nervous system is also damaged.
The process of transmitting nerve impulses to muscles and tissues is disrupted, which in turn can lead to various paralysis. These include problems with vision, speech, swallowing and bilateral facial nerve palsy. In this case, a person cannot wrinkle their forehead or show their teeth, and facial movements are also lost.
In severe cases, the respiratory process and even the work of the heart muscle can be disturbed. The morbidity of botulism is low, but if it is not diagnosed in time and appropriate treatment is not taken immediately, the mortality rate is high. The disease may bring 5-10% of cases result in death.
These symptoms are not caused by the bacteria themselves but by toxins produced by the bacteria.
The incubation period (the time from infection to the first symptoms) of botulism poisoning is no more than five days. The average is 24-48 hours.
Diagnosis and treatment of botulism
In the case of food botulism, clusters of people who eat the same products in the same time period are more likely to be infected. Typically, these are canned foods (mushrooms, vegetables, fruit), smoked or dried fish, lard.
The diagnosis of the disease is based on a combination of clinical symptoms and laboratory tests aimed at detecting botulinum toxin and bacteria in the patient’s vomit and blood. In addition, the product believed to have caused the poisoning must also be tested for the presence of the toxin.
Botulism poisoning requires emergency care, and the patient must be under constant supervision. Therefore, when the first symptoms appear, the victim needs to be rushed to the hospital as quickly as possible. The faster this is done, the higher the chances of a successful recovery.
The patient is given gastric lavage, enemas and absorbents. All of these are necessary to slow down the effects of the toxin and partially expel it from the body.
Botulism is dangerous because it can cause serious complications, including respiratory failure. It can also lead to the death of the patient.
Preventing Botulism
Foodborne botulism can be prevented by taking certain precautions:
- Do not store food that shows signs of spoilage or decay;
- Don’t buy canned goods at the market or from random people;
- Do not violate cooking techniques: do not reduce the amount of salt and vinegar, and do not shorten the cooking time;
- Do not eat canned foods with bulging cans;
- Canned foods should only be stored in the refrigerator or cellar.
Remember: symptoms of botulism should not be ignored and you need to seek medical help as soon as possible.
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