How fast does botulism progress?
Symptoms generally begin 12-36 hours after eating contaminated food, but may occur as early as a few hours and as late as 10 days. Symptoms of botulism in infants may occur up to 14 days later.
Depending on the severity of your case, recovery from botulism can take weeks, months or even years. Most people who receive prompt treatment recover completely in less than two weeks.
Symptoms of botulism usually start with weakness of the muscles that control the eyes, face, mouth, and throat. This weakness may spread to the neck, arms, torso, and legs. Botulism also can weaken the muscles involved in breathing, which can lead to difficulty breathing and even death.
Botulism food poisoning occurs when a toxin produced by the bacteria is consumed in improperly preserved foods. The disease is caused by a potent neurotoxin produced by the bacteria. It manifests as abdominal cramping, double or blurred vision, difficulty breathing, muscle weakness, and other serious symptoms.
Botulism is caused by a toxin that attacks the body's nerves and causes difficulty breathing, muscle paralysis, and even death. Doctors treat botulism with a drug called an antitoxin, which prevents the toxin from causing any more harm. Antitoxin does not heal the damage the toxin has already done.
Some botulism patients may have mild illness without progression and may not require BAT; however, the clinical features that predict which patients will progress and should be treated with BAT are unknown.
When your case is mild, you may need weeks or months for a full recovery. It may take months or years to completely get over a very serious case. If the illness isn't treated, botulism can be life-threatening. But people recover in about 90% to 95% of cases.
Analysis of blood, stool, or vomit for evidence of the toxin may help confirm a diagnosis of infant or foodborne botulism. But getting these test results may take days. So the provider's exam is the main way to diagnose botulism.
Depending on the exact type of botulism, some people initially have symptoms such as feeling sick, being sick (vomiting), stomach cramps, diarrhoea or constipation. Without treatment, botulism eventually causes paralysis that spreads down the body from the head to the legs. Symptoms can include: drooping eyelids.
The median lethal dose for humans has been estimated at 2 nanograms of botulinum toxin per kilogram of bodyweight, which is approximately 3 times greater than in foodborne cases. Following inhalation of the toxin, symptoms become visible between 1–3 days, with longer onset times for lower levels of intoxication.
What is the mortality rate of botulism without treatment?
Botulism is always considered a medical emergency. It can cause death by paralyzing the muscles people use to breathe. However, over the past 50 years, with better care, the death rate for people with botulism has dropped from 50 percent to eight percent.