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Botulism

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Bacterial Infections of Humans

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Abstract

Botulism is uncommon in the United States, but it may rapidly cause death, and contaminated, commercially distributed products may expose many persons. It is both a medical and an epidemiological emergency. Because of extensive media coverage of recent outbreaks and reports of contaminated commercial products, public interest in and awareness of this disease have greatly increased.

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Suggested Reading

  • Arnon, S. S., Midura, T. F., and Clay, S. I., Infant botulism: Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory aspects, J. Am. Med. Assoc. 237:1946–1951 (1977).

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  • Gangarosa, E. J., Botulism, in: Infectious Diseases (P. D. Hoeprich, ed.), pp. 1031–1036, Harper and Row, Hagerstown, Maryland, 1972.

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  • Merson, M. H., and Dowell, V. R., Epidemiologic, clinical, and laboratory aspects of wound botulism, N. Engl. J. Med. 289:1005–1010 (1973).

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  • Smith, L. D., Botulism: The Organism, Its Toxins, the Disease, Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1977.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California, 94305, USA

    William Terranova

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  1. William Terranova
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Alfred S. Evans (John Rodman Paul Professor of Epidemiology) (John Rodman Paul Professor of Epidemiology)

  2. Upstate Medical Center, State University of New York, Syracuse, New York, USA

    Harry A. Feldman

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Terranova, W. (1982). Botulism. In: Evans, A.S., Feldman, H.A. (eds) Bacterial Infections of Humans. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1140-0_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1140-0_5

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