Botulism is a disease caused by a toxin with neurotoxic activity produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum . In most cases, it is a food poisoning, due to the ingestion of foods containing the preformed neurotoxin. Botulism occurs mainly with gastrointestinal symptoms and neurological disorders, which can lead to the death of the patient due to paralysis of the respiratory muscles.
Clostridium botulinum is an anaerobic microorganism (ie it develops in the absence of air) and is commonly found in the soil, sediments, dust and intestines of fish and various animals, generally in the form of spores . Therefore, the bacterium can easily come into contact with food, contaminate it and survive in food even for long periods. If they find the favorable environmental conditions, the spores begin to germinate and produce the toxin; in particular, to transform into the vegetative form anaerobiosis, a pH between 4.6 and 9, the presence of free water and a temperature of 18-25 ° C are necessary. For this reason, the food form is often associated with the consumption of homemade or hand-made preserves, without the respect of elementary hygiene measures. In fact, it should be kept in mind that most of the spores present are destroyed high temperatures (121 ° C for 3 minutes), while with cooking (80-90 ° C for at least 30 minutes) the toxins that may be present are deactivated (in this second case, however, is better to consume the food immediately).
In addition to the dietary form, there are also wound botulism, intestinal and iatrogenic. Wound botulism is a consequence of the production of botulinum toxin in skin lesions contaminated with Clostridia or the injection of drugs or drugs with non-sterilized needles. The intestinal form, instead, is due to the ingestion of food contaminated by the spores of Clostridium botulinum which, once in the gastroenteric apparatus, return to the vegetative state and produce toxins; it can affect both the newborn (<6 months, infant botulism ), and the adult. Finally, iatrogenic botulism is to be considered a very rare adverse effect associated with the administration of the toxin for cosmetic or therapeutic use.
