Epidemiology botulism

Spores may be transferred from soil and plants to the sea via rainwater, causing the prevalence in coastal waters of the same C. botulinum types as on the land. Such a correlation was observed in Great Britain, where the type B predominates both in soil and in bottom sediments. Similarly, 71% of fish and bottom-sediment samples collected in southern France were contaminated with type B, while C. botulinum type E was found only in 9.6% of samples (Each et al., 2002). However, it is commonly believed that non-proteolytic type E is characteristic for the marine environment. A distinguishing feature of type E strains is the ability to grow in low temperatures (about 3°C), which are typical for bottom layers of seas and oceans. Moreover, the bottom sediments provide anaerobic conditions for the outgrowth of Clostridium. Therefore, the marine environment promotes C. botulinum type E distribution. This has been further supported by the rate of fish and seafood contamination fish and seafood isolated in many countries are most frequently contaminated with C. botulinum type E (Dodds, 1993 a,b). Furthermore, epidemiological studies have shown that the majority of botulism cases linked to fish and seafood consumption reported between 1950 and 1996 in the U.S. were caused by C. botulinum type E (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1998). C. botulinum type F,... 

Shapiro RL, Hatheway C, and Swerdlow DL. Botulism in the United States A clinical and epidemiologic review. Ann Intern Med 1998 129 221-228. 

Harris JB, Grubb BD, Maltin CA, Dixon R (2000) The neurotoxicity of the venom phospholipases A(2), notexin and taipoxin. Exp Neurol 161 517-26 Haug G, Wilde C, Leemhuis J, Meyer DK, Aktories K et al. (2003) Cellular uptake of Clostridium botulinum C2 toxin membrane translocation of a fusion toxin requires unfolding of its dihydrofolate reductase domain. Biochemistry 42 15284-91 Hauschild A (1993) Epidemiology of human foodborne botulism. In Hauschild A, Dodds KL (eds) Clostridium botulinum ecology and control in foods. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York, pp 69-104... 

The natural epidemiology of foodbome botulism provides additional insight into the similarities and discrepancies between the human disease and that represented in various animal models. In the USA, around 25% of reported human botulism cases are classified as foodbome and 72% are infant (Mackle et al., 2001). Human type A and B foodbome botulism cases occur worldwide and constitute the vast majority of reported human intoxications (Maselli, 1998). The majority of other botulism cases are attributed to serotype E and are typically associated with the consumption of contaminated seafood. Generalizations have been made regarding the geographic distribution of the most common C. botulinum strains within the USA. Most human foodbome botulism outbreaks occurring west of the Mississippi are due to type A toxin type B strains are more prevalent east of the Mississippi while type E strains are typically isolated to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest (Amon et al, 2001 Richardson et al, 2004). 

Natural human botnlism, a relatively rare disease, occurs in four epidemiologic forms food-borne, infantile, wound, and adult botulism from intestinal colonization (38). None of these is transmissible person to person. All four forms result from absorption of the toxin into the bloodstream through the mucosa, such as the gastrointestinal tract or a wonnd. The toxin cannot penetrate intact skin, hi the United States, fewer than 200 cases of human botuhsm occur each year (36). 

Another potential explanation for the imique epidemiology of human botulism was provided in a study of botulinum toxin binding and transcytosis across polarized monolayers of two hiunan colon carcinoma cell lines (T-84 and Caco-2). Substantial binding of iodinated BoNT/A and BoNT/B to hiunan colon carcinoma cells was observed, while minimal binding of type Cl neuro-toxin was detected (Maksymowych and Simpson, 1998). Both type A and B neurotoxins were also efficiently taken up, transcytosed, and released, by the polarized human carcinoma cells, whereas minimal transcytosis of type Cl neurotoxin was observed. The patterns of neurotoxin transcytosis (A and B, but not Cl) observed in these human gut epithelial cell lines correlate with human susceptibility to foodbome botulism (Maksymowych and... 

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