About two weeks ago, my neighbour died mysteriously. At around midnight before the incident, she had severe diarrhoea and vommitting until she could handle it no more. She was rushed to the nearby hospital but was not attended to since there was no doctor on call. After about three hours when she was being rushed to another hospital, she was paralyzed and died minutes later. What happened? - Food Poisoning- Food borne botulism.
Food borne botulism is a serious, potentially fatal disease. However, it is relatively rare. It is an intoxication usually caused by ingestion of potent neurotoxin - the botulinum toxins, formed in contaminated foods. Person to person transmission of botulism does not occur.
Be very careful of the food you take in, especially expired canned and bottled foods. Botulinum toxins are ingested through improperly processed food in which the bacteria or the spores survive, then grow and produce the toxins.
Clostridium botulinum is a gram-positive, rod- shaped, spore-forming anaerobic bacterium, meaning it can only grow in the absence of oxygen and also has the potential to form spores. Food borne botulism occurs when Clostridium botulinum grows and produces toxins in food prior to consumption. Clostridium botulinum produces spores and they exist widely in the environment including soil, river and sea water.
The growth of the bacteria and the formation of toxin occur in products with low oxygen content and certain combinations of storage temperature and preservative parameters. This happens most often in lightly preserved foods and in inadequately processed, home-canned or home-bottled foods.
The botulinum toxin has been found in a variety of foods, including low-acid preserved vegetables, such as green beans, spinach, mushrooms, and also fish, including canned tuna, fermented, salted and smoked fish; and meat products, such as ham and sausage.
Food poisoning may be prevented by the inactivation of the bacterium and its spores in heat-sterilized or canned products or by inhibiting bacterial growth and toxin production in other products.
In protecting ourselves from food poisoning, there is the need to be very selective with the foods we eat. Once you open canned foods like, sardine, milk and baked beans, empty the can into a clean container before you refrigerate. Never refrigerate food in their original storage cans; you may be exposing yourself to a possible food poisoning.
REFERENCES
"Botulism Fact sheet N°270". World Health Organization. October 2017. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
"Facts About Botulism". Emergency Preparedness and Response. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. October 14, 2001. Archived from the original on July 5, 2011. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
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