Week 3 Discussion-Environmental - Essay Example

Environmental – Food-borne Illness Botulism Order No. 308213 No. of pages: 2 6530 Botulism is a food borne disease caused by potent protein neurotoxins that is given off by ‘Clostridium Botulinum,’ which cause a lot of harm to the individual suffering from it. Its varied characteristics include vomiting, severe abdominal pain, disturbances to the motor system and other visual impairing difficulties. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classify botulism into four types: (1) food-borne; (2) infants; (3) wounds and (4) indeterminate.

The Clostridium Botulinum is a spore forming rod like structures that are not only anaerobic but also Gram- positive. These rod - like spores are resistant to heat and a capable of surviving in foods that are poorly processed due to the neuro- toxins present in them. Botulism in humans is caused by the A, B, E and F types based on their antigenic specificity. Food-borne botulism also called food poisoning occurs due to the ingestion of certain foods that contain potent neuro-toxin produced by the growth of the spores.

Though the incidence of botulism is reported to be low, yet on a global level it is a cause of great concern due to the high mortality rate when not treated promptly and properly. canned foods, if not properly and adequately processed could easily lead to botulism. Even commercially processed foods such as seafood products, meat products, sausages and canned fruits and vegetables are potent carriers for human botulism.The symptoms related to food borne botulism, occurs within 18 to 36 hours of ingesting contaminated food filled with toxins.

It begins with a marked lassitude, difficulty in swallowing and speaking, general weakness and vertigo. This is followed by a severe abdominal cramping and distention with constipation and a weakening of the muscles. Thereafter, the Botulinum toxin spreads through the body causing flaccid paralysis by inhibiting all the motor nerve terminals of the myoneural junction. The paralysis progresses downwards after beginning with the eyes, face and throat and moves towards the extremities.Botulism becomes life threatening when it encompasses the diaphragm and chest muscles because respiration becomes inhibited and asphyxia results causing death.

To prevent these early interventions of administering botulinal antitoxin in compliance with supportive intensive care is the only answer. Detection and identification of the actual source of outbreak is imperative in order to render the right treatment.This organism with its spores are abundantly distributed in nature too in soils and sediments, lakes streams and coastal waters in addition to the intestinal tracts of mammals and in the gills and viscera of fish, grabs and other different shellfish.

However, these dangerous toxins are labile to heat and can be easily destroyed when heated to approximately 80 degrees C for around 10 minutes. If the symptoms are transient it may go undiagnosed or may be mistaken for the Guillain-Barre syndrome. United States reports approximately 10 to 30 outbreaks each year. ReferencesBBB- Clostridium Botulinumwww.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/./BadBugBook/ucm070000.htmFDA’s Bad Bug Bookhttp://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/intro.htmlUS FDA/CFSAN – Bad Bug Book: Introduction to Food-borne Pathogenic…www.vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/intro.html