HHS HealthBeat (August 13, 2012)

Who gets botulism?

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Botulism is one scary disease, but the good thing is that it’s far from common.

Botulism is caused by a powerful toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. It can lead to paralysis and death.  However, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Agam Rao says conditions have to be just right for the disease to occur, so it’s both rare and often preventable. For instance, botulism from food: 

“Foodborne botulism is often from home-canned foods, and is caused by not following home-canning instructions. Foodborne botulism can also be caused by food that is not kept refrigerated.”

Articles on botulism are in CDC’s journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Learn more at healthfinder.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: August 13, 2012