Botulinum toxin. From poison to medicine.
Although thousands of people in the world each year continue to be poisoned with botulinum toxin-food-borne, infantile, or wound botulism-the neurotoxin is now sufficiently understood to allow it to be used as a medicinal agent to paralyze specific muscles, giving temporary symptomatic relief from a variety of dystonic neurologic disorders. I review some of the epidemiologic, clinical, and pathophysiologic aspects of botulinum toxin and how the neurotoxin may act as a poison or a medicine.
Davis
L E
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Neurology Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Albuquerque, NM 87108.
D001905:Botulinum Toxins / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001906:Botulism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D014946:Wound Infection / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology
D001905:Botulinum Toxins