Hart Nat Hentoff David Horowitz Arianna Huffington Marianne Jennings Michael Kelly Mort Kondracke Ch. Botulism is a serious form of poisoning that can affect children and adults alike. It is caused by eating certain foods that have been contaminated by an endotoxin, a poison produced by a class of bacteria called clostridium botulina. Botulism is unusual in that it doesn't produce the typical signs and symptoms of food poisoning, such as nausea, stomach upset, diarrhea and fever.
Weakness is usually the first sign of botulism, followed by double vision and difficulty swallowing.
Nausea and vomiting occur in less than half of the cases. Symptoms usually appear within a week of eating contaminated food that has usually been incorrectly canned or improperly cooked. Because the diagnosis is difficult to establish, treatment with anti-toxin is often delayed. About two-thirds of cases are fatal. Doctors certainly know about botulism but the disease is unusual, especially in sporadic forms, and does not come readily to mind when sick infants become affected.