An outbreak of foodborne botulism in Taiwan.
Botulism is a rare but serious paralytic disease caused by botulinum toxin. We report an outbreak of type B botulism in Taiwan in 2006. There were five cases involved in this outbreak. They present ileus and acute cranial nerve dysfunction including dysphagia and blurred vision. One of them had severe neurologic impairment and required mechanical ventilatory support. No patient received antitoxin administration because of delayed diagnosis. The food specimen revealed positive botulism toxin B. There were no fatalities. Consumption of fermented food was significantly associated with this outbreak. We also reviewed the characteristics of cases with botulism in Taiwan since 1985.
Tseng
Chun-Kai
CK
Department of Emergency Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
Tsai
Chon-Haw
CH
Tseng
Chun-Hung
CH
Tseng
Yu-Chi
YC
Lee
Fang-Yi
FY
Huang
Wei-Shih
WS
D001905:Botulinum Toxins / Q000506:poisoning*; D019274:Botulinum Toxins, Type A; D001906:Botulism / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D005285:Fermentation; D006801:Humans; D045823:Ileus / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000506:poisoning; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
C096323:rimabotulinumtoxinB; D001905:Botulinum Toxins; D019274:Botulinum Toxins, Type A