Background: Food-born botulism is caused by ingestion of contaminated food with clostridium botulinum neurotoxin. Case: In food-born botulism, due to acetylcholine release blockade, neuromuscular signs and symptoms are common, but in this case report we present a food-born botulism with papiledema and venous sinus thrombosis. Conclusion: Papiledema and fever could not rule out the diagnosis...

Botulism is neuromuscular paralysis secondary to a neurotoxin secreted from Clostridium Botulinum bacteria. It is a rare syndrome as a result of food poisoning with the spore-forming clostridium bacteria. The ingested food is contaminated with the pre-secreted botulinum toxin. Infant botulism occurs with the ingestion of the clostridial spores that later germinate and colonize the intestine and...

Botulism is neuromuscular paralysis secondary to a neurotoxin secreted from Clostridium Botulinum bacteria. It is a rare syndrome as a result of food poisoning with the spore-forming clostridium bacteria. The ingested food is contaminated with the pre-secreted botulinum toxin. Infant botulism occurs with the ingestion of the clostridial spores that later germinate and colonize the intestine and...

Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) A and B are used to treat neuropathic disorders; if retargeted, these agents could be used to treat medical conditions that involve secretion from nonneuronal cells. Here, we report novel strategies for successfully retargeting BoNTs, and also tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT), to primary human blood monocyte-derived macrophages where BoNT/B inhibited the release of tumor ne...

Palmar and plantar hyperhidrosis is relatively common and can have severe psychological and medical consequences for those afflicted. A multitude of treatments exist but are often inadequate especially for those with significant disease. In these cases botulinum neurotoxin provides a reliable method for reducing the symptoms and improving quality of life. Although actual administration is relat...

The present report describes the use of ELISA with cDNA expression libraries in the identification of immunogenic proteins. The methodology described was applied using libraries constructed with mRNA isolated from Tityus serrulatus and Tityus bahiensis venom glands. In addition we describe for the first time the sequence of a neurotoxin from Tityus bahiensis venom gland named TbTx5 whose amino ...

A rare strain of Clostridium botulinum subtype Ab was isolated from a canned macrobiotic food suspected of being linked to a fatal case of food-borne botulism. The strain was recovered and identified by conventional methods modified by the inclusion of a PCR assay (G. Franciosa, J.L. Ferreira, and C.L. Hatheway, J. Clin. Microbiol. 32:1911-1917, 1994). The titers of neurotoxins produced by the ...

The hemagglutinating protein HA33 from Clostridium botulinum is associated with the large botulinum neurotoxin secreted complexes and is critical in toxin protection, internalization, and possibly activation. We report the crystal structure of serotype A HA33 (HA33/A) at 1.5 A resolution that contains a unique domain organization and a carbohydrate recognition site. In addition, sequence alignm...

Sanger and shotgun sequencing of Clostridium botulinum strain Af84 type Af and its botulinum neurotoxin gene (bont) clusters identified the presence of three bont gene clusters rather than the expected two. The three toxin gene clusters consisted of bont subtypes A2, F4 and F5. The bont/A2 and bont/F4 gene clusters were located within the chromosome (the latter in a novel location), while the b...

We investigated whether the descending noradrenergic system regulates allergic itch. Mosquito allergy of the hind paw elicited biting, an itch-related response, in sensitized mice. The biting was inhibited by intrathecal clonidine and reversed by yohimbine, an α(2)-adrenoceptor antagonist. The biting was increased by intrathecal pretreatment with the catecholaminergic neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopami...