[Two part post combined into this one. BIG]
I got a reply to my garlic post which asked whether botulism might be a
danger, since the person in question had heard of it being a problem in
homemade garlic infusions. My answer's repeated here (hopefully its not
too long!) in case anyone else wondered, and to shed some light on
botulism. Caveat: I'm a chiropractor, not a veterinarian.
I have never heard of that happening with fresh garlic. I've used garlic
on myself for wounds and never had any problem with it. Of course, you
have to change the garlic regularly! Plus it is important to clean the
wound first and to of course use washed garlic and keep the beastie away
from dirt as much as possible.
I would suspect that the botulism comes to be be a problem in home garlic
infusions because of a couple of little words. "Home" and "Infusion."
Botulism tends to occur because of improper cooking or canning techniques.
Here is some of what my microbiology book has to say about Clostridium
botulinum. (_Medical Microbiology, 2nd ed._ Murray, Kobayashi, Pfaller and
Rosenthal, Mosby Books, 1994.) Extensive paraphrasing to follow as I pare
this terminology down to size.
----
"C. botulinum is a heterogeneous group of fastidious, spore-forming,
anaerobic bacilli. It consists of a neurotoxic part and 1+ non-toxic parts
which protect the neurotoxin from being destroyed by stomach acids. It
also produces another toxin which disrupts the permeability of blood
vessels. Spore-forming means that it can survive outside the body in dry
soil or vegation for many years, and survive in contaminated food.
"There are 3 kinds of botulism: food-bourne, infant, and wound botulism.
It is distributed worldwide, commonly found in soil and water samples,
though relatively uncommon in the U.S.
"FOOD-RELATED. Fewer than 50 cases of food botulism are seen each year,
most commonly associated with home-canned foods and occasionally in
perserved fish. The food may or may not appear spoiled but even a small
taste is enough to cause the full-blown disease. One to 2 days after
consumption of contaminated food, the patient develops weakness and
dizziness. The initial signs include blurred vision with fixed dilated
pupils, dry mouth, constipation and abdominal pain. Flaccid paralysis
develops. Death is attributed to respiratory paralysis.
"This disease is very difficult to address even if aggressive treatment is
used, and if the patient does recover it may take months to years for the
affected nerve endings to regrow. Mortality used to be 70%, it's now about
10% because of improvements in supportive care, especially of the
respiratory complications.
"INFANT. This is more common and has been associated with the consumption
of honey contaminated with the botulinum spores. It is most often reported
in infants 1-6 months old as failure to thrive, continuing into flaccid
paralysis and respiratory arrest. Some SIDS deaths may be
botulism-related. However, the /documented/ death rate is very low.
"WOUND. This is the rarest form of botulism in the U.S. It develops from
in vivo production of the bacilli in contaminated wounds. The symptoms are
identical to food-bourne botulism but the incubation period is longer (4+
days) and the gastrointestinal symptoms are less prominent.
"PREVENTION. Prevention of disease involves destruction of the spores in
food products (which is virtually impossible for practical purposes),
prevention of spore germination by storing the food in an acid pH or at
4degC or colder, or destruction of the toxin by heating the food for 20
minutes at 80degC. Infants under 1 year old should not eat honey because
of the strong association of infant botulism with contaminated honey."
----
Whew. A long-winded answer, but I hope this helps! I would recommend that
with any sort of home made infusions/etc, that you read up on proper
canning or bottling techniques, and then follow the instructions to the
letter and don't cut a single corner.
Megan O'Shaughnessy DC (aka speed-demon typer) and Grover and Onyx!
[Posted in FML issue 2435]
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