title: Ecology of Clostridium botulinum causing food-borne botulism in Thailand.
abstract: The objective of this study was to determine ecology of Clostridium botulinum from previous reported outbreaks. Geographical parameters and their corresponding settings were collected and analyzed. The averages (mean +/- SD) for % soil moisture, % humus and pH were 0.6 +/- 0.1% (range 0.5-0.7), 3.0 +/- 0.2% (range 3-3.2) and 5.2 +/- 0.1 (range 5.1-5.4), respectively. All outbreak settings shared the same sandy loam soil type. It can imply that provinces with this type of ecology may have sites harboring C. botulinum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. wviroj@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Viroj
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wiwanitkit
mesh_terms: D001906:Botulism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D003014:Clostridium botulinum / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004463:Ecology; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013785:Thailand