Search for a rare disease
Other search option(s)
Toxin-mediated infectious botulism
Disease definition
Infectious botulism is a form of botulism (see this term), a rare acquired neuromuscular junction disease, characterized by descending flaccid paralysis caused by botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs), produced in vivo leading to toxin-mediated infection. Infectious botulism includes wound botulism and intestinal toxemia botulism (infant botulism and adult intestinal botulism; see these terms).
ORPHA:230800
Classification level: Subtype of disorder- Synonym(s):
- Toxin-mediated infective botulism
- Prevalence: Unknown
- Inheritance: -
- Age of onset: All ages
- ICD-10: A05.1
- OMIM: -
- UMLS: -
- MeSH: -
- GARD: -
- MedDRA: -
Summary
Epidemiology
Prevalence is unknown. So far, about 4,000 cases have been reported worldwide, infant botulism being the most frequently reported form.
Clinical description
Clinical manifestations are similar to other forms of botulism, in particular those of foodborne botulism (see this term), except for the lack of gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea and vomiting). Fever may be present in wound botulism.
Etiology
Infectious botulism is due to BoNTs produced in vivo after colonization by C. botulinum and, very rarely, by neurotoxigenic strains of C. baratii and C. butyricum. Intestinal botulism is due to intestinal colonization and wound botulism is due to the contamination of a wound, but nowadays affects mainly intravenous drug users (IDUs). After spore germination and toxinogenesis, the toxin is absorbed into the blood stream and distributed throughout the body, causing the typical manifestations of botulism.
A summary on this disease is available in Deutsch (2011) Español (2011) Français (2011) Italiano (2011) Nederlands (2011) Português (2011) Greek (2011, pdf)
Additional information