title: An outbreak of foodborne botulism in Taiwan.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chun-Kai
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: Chon-Haw
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Chun-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: Yu-Chi
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: Fang-Yi
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Wei-Shih
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: C096323:rimabotulinumtoxinB; D001905:Botulinum Toxins; D019274:Botulinum Toxins, Type A