title: Management of animal botulism outbreaks: from clinical suspicion to practical countermeasures to prevent or minimize outbreaks.
abstract: Botulism is a severe neuroparalytic disease that affects humans, all warm-blooded animals, and some fishes. The disease is caused by exposure to toxins produced by Clostridium botulinum and other botulinum toxin-producing clostridia. Botulism in animals represents a severe environmental and economic concern because of its high mortality rate. Moreover, meat or other products from affected animals entering the food chain may result in a public health problem. To this end, early diagnosis is crucial to define and apply appropriate veterinary public health measures. Clinical diagnosis is based on clinical findings eliminating other causes of neuromuscular disorders and on the absence of internal lesions observed during postmortem examination. Since clinical signs alone are often insufficient to make a definitive diagnosis, laboratory confirmation is required. Botulinum antitoxin administration and supportive therapies are used to treat sick animals. Once the diagnosis has been made, euthanasia is frequently advisable. Vaccine administration is subject to health authorities' permission, and it is restricted to a small number of animal species. Several measures can be adopted to prevent or minimize outbreaks. In this article we outline all phases of management of animal botulism outbreaks occurring in wet wild birds, poultry, cattle, horses, and fur farm animals.
authors: Fabrizio Anniballi, CLT, is a Laboratory Technician; Alfonsina Fiore, PhD, is a Researcher; Bruna Auricchio, CLT, is a Laboratory Technician; and Dario De Medici, PhD, is Senior Researcher, all at Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety, Rome, Italy. Charlotta Löfström, PhD, is an Assistant Professor, and Trine Hansen, MSc, is a PhD student, both at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Søborg, Denmark. Hanna Skarin, MSc, is a Research Assistant; Bo Segerman, PhD, is is a Researcher; Viveca Båverud, PhD, is Associate Professor; Eva Olsson Engvall, PhD, is Associate Professor; all in the Department of Bacteriology, National Veterinary Institute (SVA), Uppsala, Sweden, and Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden. Cédric Woudstra, MSc, is an Engineer, and Patrick Fach, PhD, is Head of the High Throughput qPCR Platform IdentyPath, both at the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES), Food Safety Laboratory, Maisons-Alfort, France. Luca Bano, PhD, is Veterinary Officer, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe), Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory of Treviso, Treviso, Italy. Miriam Koene, DVM, is a Scientist, Central Veterinary Institute of Wageningen University and Research Centre (CVI) , Lelystad, the Netherlands. Annica Tevell Åberg, PhD, is a Senior Researcher, and Mikael Hedeland, PhD, is Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the Department, Department of Chemistry, Environment and Feed Hygiene, National Veterinary Institute (SVA), Uppsala, Sweden .
authors: Fabrizio
authors: F
authors: Anniballi
authors: Alfonsina
authors: A
authors: Fiore
authors: Charlotta
authors: C
authors: Löfström
authors: Hanna
authors: H
authors: Skarin
authors: Bruna
authors: B
authors: Auricchio
authors: Cédric
authors: C
authors: Woudstra
authors: Luca
authors: L
authors: Bano
authors: Bo
authors: B
authors: Segerman
authors: Miriam
authors: M
authors: Koene
authors: Viveca
authors: V
authors: Båverud
authors: Trine
authors: T
authors: Hansen
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Fach
authors: Annica
authors: A
authors: Tevell Aberg
authors: Mikael
authors: M
authors: Hedeland
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Olsson Engvall
authors: Dario
authors: D
authors: De Medici
mesh_terms: D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D000818:Animals; D001905:Botulinum Toxins; D001906:Botulism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D002417:Cattle; D003014:Clostridium botulinum; D006736:Horses; D011200:Poultry; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D001905:Botulinum Toxins