∞ generated and posted on 2016.03.18 ∞
Bacterial virulence factor capable of causing flaccid paralysis.
| Botulinum Toxin, or simply botulinum, is an exotoxin that is produced by Clostridium botulinum and which is responsible for botulism food poisoning – which is associated particularly with improperly canned goods – as well as wound-associated botulism. |
This toxin is produced by Clostridium botulinum and the virulence factor itself constitutes an exotoxin. It is the underlying cause of the disease, botulism.
It also is extremely toxic as "less than 2 kg – the weight of two bags of sugar – is enough to kill every person on the planet."
Particularly as associated with canned goods, exposure to this toxin represents an intoxication since live organism is not necessary to cause disease, just its botulinum toxin product.
Another name for botulinum toxin is simply botulinum.
Here is an explanation for why botulinum toxin exists :
The genome sequence shows that C. botulinum doesn't have subtle tools to evade our or tricky methods of acquiring resistance to antibiotics. It lives either as a dormant spore or as a of animal materials in the , and doesn't interact with human or other large animal hosts for prolonged periods of time.
Occasionally it gets into a living animal, via or , leading to or , both of which are serious human infections. The host can be quickly overpowered and, in some cases, killed by the toxin, and C. botulinum has a new .