Toxins botulism

Botulism Toxin that occurs in the form of food-borne botulism, wound botulism, and infant botulism one of the most toxic substances known to man. 

In 1991 the FDA approved the use of botulism toxin (BT) for the treatment of an "orphan" condition called blepharospasm. A victim of this syndrome will experience uncontrollable winking caused by spasms of the eyelid muscles. Use of botulism toxin will cause abatement of the symptoms in 90% of patients for 2 to 4 months. 

Middlebrook, J., Franz, D. (2000). Botulism toxins. In Textbook of Military Medicine Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare, pp. 643-54. Virtual Naval Hospital. 

Botulism toxins can be used as a terrorist weapon (Osborne et al, 2007 Adler et al, 2008). This group of toxins can easily be produced at low cost. Exposures to botulism toxins are oral, and these toxins have been formed in feedstuffs, or in vivo from toxin production by Clostridium botulinum growing in the gut or wounds (Critchley, 1991 Bohnel et al, 2001). The production of botulism toxin is considered to be inexpensive and requires a low level of technology. 

Botulism neurotoxins bind with synaptic vesicular proteins and block the release of acetylcholine from the presynaptic membrane (Osborne et al, 2007). Clinical signs of botulism are weakness, tremors, recumbency, laryngeal paresis, and other signs of nervous system dysfunction (Braun et al, 2005). Botulism toxins do not appear to be excreted in milk (Galey et al, 2000). 

Botulism toxins can be produced and incorporated into ingredients used in feedstuffs. The use of dead rodents or other animals can serve as a substrate for Clostridium botulinum, providing anaerobic conditions. Contamination of feedstuffs with the carcasses of dead mice or other small animals could be a method of disseminating botulism toxins. For further details of botuhsm toxins, readers are referred to in Chapter 30. 

The species Clostridium perfingens has heat-labile protein enterotoxin and a molecular weight of about 36,000. Botulism toxin is in fact... 

Botulism toxin, a bacterial protein, is reputed as the most known toxic molecule. It is produced by Clostridium botulinum, a gram-positive spore-forming anaerobe germ that dwells in the soil. There are 7 different antigenic types of this toxin A through G. Disease in humans is caused by types A, B, E, or F. Aerosol exposure studies in rhesus monkeys indicate that type F is the most toxic and that it is 60x more toxic than type B, the least toxic. Extrapolations from primate studies predict that the fatal dose of Botulinum toxin in humans is on the order of ... 

Milk supplies, as another example, meet that very same biosabotage principle and have aroused much worry. About a third of an ounce of botulism toxin poured by bioterrorists into a milk truck en route from a dairy farm to a processing plant could cause hundreds of thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in economic losses, according to a scientific analysis [106]. 

Botulism is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by a nerve toxin that is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. There are three main kinds of botulism. Foodbome botulism is caused by eating foods that contain the botulism toxin. Wound botulism is caused by toxin produced from a wound infected with Clostridium botulinum. Infant botulism is caused by consuming the spores of the botulinum bacteria, which then grow in the intestines and release toxin. All forms of botulism can be fatal and are considered medical emergencies. Foodbome botulism can be especially dangerous because many people can be poisoned by eating a contaminated food. 

Clostridium botulinum is the name of a group of bacteria commonly found in soil. These rodshaped organisms grow best in low oxygen conditions. The bacteria form spores which allow them to survive in a dormant state until exposed to conditions that can support their growth. There are seven types of botulism toxin designated by the letters A through G only types A. B. E and F cause illness in humans. 

Exotoxins. Bacterial toxins which, in contrast to en-dotoxins, are secreted by living, mostly Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus E. Comyebacterium diphtheriae see diphtheria toxin Clostridium botuli-num see botulism toxin Clostridium tetani). E. are... 

---