The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced a new botulism case on June 28, 2011. The case is a 4-year-old boy who resides in Pingtung County and he is currently being treated at the intensive care unit (ICU).The local health bureau has recently obtained samples of the food that the boy ate prior to his disease onset, including peanut butter, chocolate spread, cheese, hamburger meat, hot dog, canned tuna and margarine, and submitted the samples to the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) for laboratory testing.

On June 22, 2011, the case sought medical attention at a hospital in Pingtung City when he developed symptoms, including abdominal pain, blurred vision, photophobia, vomiting and confusion.At around noon on the same day, when his conditions got dramatically worse, he was intubated and attached to ventilators.He was then rushed to a medical center in Kaohsiung City for further treatment and reported to the health authority as a suspected botulism case. On June 28, the patient’s serum sample was tested positive for botulinum toxin type A by Taiwan CDC.This is the third case of botulism infection confirmed in Taiwan this year.

Clostridium botulinum is ubiquitous in the environment.The sporulation of the bacterium occurs in an anaerobic environment.Any food product can be contaminated with clostridium botulinum spores if the food product is not properly sterilized during the manufacturing and packaging processes.In a vacuum-packaged environment, food can be unsafe from clostridium botulinum growth.The toxin produced by clostridium botulinum is sensitive to heat and can be destroyed by heating it at 100°C for 10 minutes.Any homemade pickled products or vacuum-packaged food should be boiled for 10 minutes prior to consumption in order to ensure food safety.In addition, parents should avoid feeding children under one year of age any foods containing honey.

Botulism infection can be fatal if left untreated.Taiwan CDC urges all physicians to remain vigilant for suspected cases of botulism.Physicians may consider the diagnosis if a patient displays gastrointestinal symptoms or fatigue accompanied by neurological symptoms and signs related to botulism such as deterioration of sight, dilated pupils, drooping eyelids and/or weakness of the arms and legs.Physicians should report such cases to the health authority immediately to facilitate provision of antitoxin to treat the case and lower the risk of death.