Posted on 04/22/2015 2:54:26 PM PDT by BenLurkin
LANCASTER, Ohio — A suspected botulism outbreak that began in Lancaster yesterday has sickened at least 18 people and led to the death of a 54-year-old woman.
Another 21 people who attended the potluck are not showing symptoms and are being watched because of concerns they could become ill, said Cassie Bala, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health.
The youngest person hospitalized with symptoms of the food-borne illness is 9 and the oldest is 87, Bala said.
All of those with symptoms have received an intravenous antitoxin, said Fairfield Department of Health spokeswoman Jennifer Valentine.
Patients did not begin to receive the antitoxin until early this morning. The infusions began at about 2 a.m. at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical center, as soon as the medication arrived and could be administered, said infectious disease expert Dr. Julie Mangino.
It is a one-time dose that takes about two to three hours to administer and protects against seven types of botulinim toxin, she said.
It protects people exposed to botulism by blocking the neurotoxin’s ability to get to nerve receptors, Mangino said, and is more effective the sooner it’s administered. Multiple people sickened in the outbreak are ill enough to be on mechanical ventilators, and by then the benefits are still important but less significant, she said.
...
“You want to give it when we see the start of the illness ... if the person is already intubated that person is going to have a very long period of recovery.”
Initial symptoms mirror a lot of health problems: nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Then neurological symptoms start from the head down and usually begin with drooping eyelids (often just one), speech problems and an inability to hold one’s head up before progressing to more life-threatening problems in the lungs, Mangino said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dispatch.com ...
The salmon mousse?
Bad meat in the can...
Unfortunately, it sounds like someone brought something that was made from home-canned goods that may have gone bad (improper canning/storage methods - possibly low acid, could be veggies or meat)
A college Bacteriology course put the “terror” in my mind re: the source of food, especially green beans...Thanks, Dr. Harned, it’s been 50+ years, but your lesson is still in the front seat of my mind!
Yikes! I love green beans......what did he tell you?
But I didn’t even eat the mousse.
Yikes, my next door neighbors just moved from there last summer.
FTA: Outbreaks of food-borne botulism occur most every year and usually are linked to home-canned food, particularly low-acid foods such as green beans, asparagus, beets and corn, according to the CDC.
Bad pork chop.
Family reunion dinner, I believe in Colorado....home canned green beans...multiple deaths....I have never eaten green beans since w/o remembering his lecture..very effective teaching!!! :)
They must have a suspect for the source to use the specific antitoxin. There are several types of botulism and some are endemic overseas and the antitoxin doesn’t cross protect in others. I remember a Type E outbreak in Knoxville from eating fish that had set out too long and the TNANG had to fly a fighter jet from Alcoa to France and back to get the antitoxin back to save the victims.
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