Anthrax Toxin And The Medical Field

Botulism is a rare but very serious paralytic illness that is caused by botulinum toxin(potentially deadly neurotoxin) which is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The botulinum toxin can enter the body in 3 main ways: by the ingestion of the toxin from eating foods that contain the botulism toxin (food borne botulism), by the contamination of a wound by the bacterium in which the toxin is produced (wound botulism) and Infant botulism which is caused by consuming the spores of the botulinum bacteria, which then grow in the intestines and release the toxin. The powerful exotoxin (botulinum toxin) leads to secretory diarrhea. All forms of botulism can be fatal and are therefore considered to be

Bottone, E.J., Bacillus cereus, a Volatile Human Pathogen. (2010) US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2863360/

When Shiga toxins reach the blood vessels a chemical chain reaction occurs and begins to form small blood clots. Some of the high risc organs are the kidneys, pancreas, and even the brain. The toxin can also shut down protein makers which will cause cell injury or death. The toxin will also damage red blood cells and even kill them off. There are even scientific studies that link E.Coli to long term emotional disturbances.

Clostridium botulinum is a type of bacterium that is one of the main reasons for causing the deadly illness botulism. To

Clostridium botulinum is an, anaerobic, gram-positive, spore-forming bacteria that causes the disease known as botulism (Smith and Sugiyama, 1988). It produces a potent neurotoxin called botulinum toxin which causes botulism or more specifically foodborne botulism. The spores of the bacteria can survive high temperatures and can live in foods that are incorrectly or poorly processed (FDA). There are seven types of botulism recognized, (A-G), but only A, B, E, and F cause human botulism (FDA).

The first strain mentions is the most common type which is foodborne botulism, food borne botulism is caused by eating foods that contain the botulinum toxin; the most frequent source being home-canned foods prepared in an unsafe manner (CDC, 2016). The next type of botulism is wound botulism which is caused by toxin produced from a wound infected with Clostridium botulinum. Injection drugs users are at increased risk for wound botulism. The third type of botulism is infant botulism caused by consuming the spores of the botulinum bacteria, which then grow in the intestines and release toxin (CDC, 2016). Bacteria from the spores can grow and multiply in a baby's intestines, producing a dangerous toxin. The condition can occur in infants up to age 12

Microbes have several virulence factors to help evade the immune response and reproduce such as capsules. These capsules or polysaccharide matrixes aid survival through antigenic masking that protects the microbe against immune barriers and allows them to reproduce and infect a susceptible host. Many microorganisms including Clostridium botulinum also produce heat resistant endospores that are difficult to eradicate and aid transmission; Clostridium botulinum is able to enter the food chain and produce a botulinum toxin to create a common – source epidemic. Other microbes such as Bacillus anthracis can produce spores that are hard to eradicate and are used for air – borne transmission. Some pathogenic organisms including Staphylococcus aureus are also developing an innate resistance to antibiotic treatment. This prolongs the treatment and gives the microbe additional time to infect more susceptible hosts and establish

Also, the anthrax spores can take between 1 - 60 days to begin to germinate in the body.

Clostridium botulinum is a kind of bacterium that is responsible for botulism. This is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacterium. There are 7 types of toxins caused by C.botulinum, A-G, but only 4 of these toxin are known to cause a disease in humans they are A, B,E, and F. Only type A is universal throughout the world. Toxin G is encoded in the plasmid unlike the rest are encoded in the bacterial chromosome. What is special about type C. Botulinum is that it can only produce its toxin during sporulation. Clostridium botulinum will only become active when the environmental conditions are appropriate but other than that the endospores of Clostridium botulinum will stay “asleep” in contaminated foods. This type

Botulism, Clostridium Botulinum, is a rod shaped anaerobic organism. This organism has peritrichous flagella, which means that it has flagella covering the entire surface. This is usually a rare but could turn into the worst case scenario like paralytic illness which is caused by a nerve toxin. The toxins are endospores that can be ingested by consuming contaminated food or water. Individuals can also breath in the toxin will have similar symptoms to those who ingest it.

Clostridium botulinum produces botulinum toxin which is the strongest human known toxin. This makes it have great potential for use as a bioweapon. The concern for this has risen due to Iraq’s production, under Saddam Hussein’s rule, of 19,000 liters of botulinum toxin in 1995. This amount is enough to kill the entire population of humans on earth, three times over. The use of this neurotoxin could be in the form of aerosol or food contamination. For this reason, it is highly studied. It is also the reason I picked Clostridium botulinum as the bacterium to do my research paper on.

imagine back in the early 2000's when anthrax was a major concern for people all over the world and begin to ask why were they really shipping live anthrax all over back then?

The botulinum toxin enters the body via the oral route in a complex enclosed by auxiliary proteins to prevent metabolism of the toxin by endoproteases. The auxiliary proteins contain hemagglutinin (HA) and a non-toxic non-hemagglutinin (NTNH) component which make up approximately 900kDa and ensure the toxin enters the gut without being lysed by the present enzymes. The botulinum toxin in the gut now has to enter the vascular system and does this via the process known as endocytosis and undergoes a further process (transcytosis) to move it into the vasculature. The botulinum toxin acts on neuron endings i.e. the neuromuscular junction and therefore needs to leave the vascular system. There is little knowledge on how the toxin undergoes this

Botulism occurs when infants under one year take contaminated raw honey or corn syrup. Injecting some types of heroin and eating food containing the bacteria will lead

The build up of stomach acid may cause irritation and excess pain to individuals. Luckily, antacids being a weak base can help relieve the symptoms and pain. Antacids, such as Gelusil, Medi-Firs, Alka Seltzer, and Alcalak are neutralizing agents of acids that become helpful to the human body when heartburn occurs. Heartburn, also known as acid reflux is a common medical issue that occurs when hydrochloric acid (HCl) from the stomach moves backward along the digestive track to the esophagus (located within the throat). This reverse flow of fluids causes a burning sensation due to and possible sour taste that is characteristic of acids [1].