Medical Description

Commonly found in heroin users, wound botulism is a rare disease that occurs when the botulinal toxin gets into an open wound and reproduces. Three percent of botulism cases reported annually are wound botulism cases.

The symptoms produced by a patient with wound botulism are similar to the foodborne form, but may take up to two weeks to appear.

Symptoms

• dry mouth
• difficulty swallowing
• slurred speech
• drooping eyelids
• muscle weakness
• double and/or blurred vision
• vomiting
• diarrhea
• constipation
• body paralysis
• respiratory failure
• death

General Information

If diagnosed early, wound botulism can be treated with an antitoxin. This blocks the action of the toxin circulating in the blood, and can prevent patients from worsening. Recovery, however, still takes many weeks. Wounds infected with the toxin are usually treated surgically in order to remove the source of the toxin-producing bacteria.

Source: “Botulism,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 2007; “Botulism,” World Health Organization, August 2002; “Botulism,” Wikipedia.org, July 2007.

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