Botox, Baby!

So here is the deal with not giving honey to a baby under 1 year old. It is not an allergy precaution, so don't think that you can give it to them just because no one in your family has an allergy!  Honey contains Botulism endospores; bees pick it up from dust when they are collecting pollen.  Babies are susceptible, as well as people who have had a long course of antibiotics, so they need to avoid eating honey as well.  (Unpasteurized corn syrup is also being named as a source of botulism, so follow the same precautions.)

The diagnostic symptoms of Botulism include dizziness, dry mouth, blurred vision, and paralysis.  There are additional unpleasant symptoms that also occur between 8 and 36 hours after eating contaminated food.

Clostridium botulinum, the causative agent, is an anaerobic bacteria; it needs an airless environment to thrive, which is why canned foods carry a danger of botulism.  It has endospores, which are essentially really, REALLY tough little cells that can survive where normal bacteria would be killed.  C. botulinum produces a toxin, and that is what makes us sick.  The toxin is called Botox.  Yes, the same stuff rich people pay to have injected into their faces.  They use the paralytic function of the toxin to paralyze the muscles in their faces, which stretches out the skin above the muscle and smooths out their wrinkles.  (The cosmetic use was discovered by accident when they started using Botox to treat people with muscle spasms in the late 1980's.)

So you might be wondering if Botulism is dangerous after all.  Yes!  Botox is one of the most powerful neurotoxins!  It takes as little as 90 nanograms to kill a 90 kg (200 pound) person.  That is far less than one ounce.  (90 nanograms = 3.17465658 × 10^-9 ounces)  Once ingested, Botulism toxin binds to your nervous system, then attacks your motor nerves by blocking neurotransmitter function.  That's the cause of the paralysis.  Their are also risks of complications from using injected Botox, up to and including death.

C. botulinum is naturally found in soils and aquatic sediments (beware of drinking untreated water), as well as non-acidic canned foods, honey, and corn syrup.  Contaminated canned foods tend to bulge, or may smell bad.  Don't eat it if you suspect it may be contaminated, and don't give even a tiny bit of honey to a baby or someone who has been on antibiotics for a long time.

Make no mistake, honey IS good for us- if we have a normal, healthy immune system and digestive tract.  We have normal flora (think GOOD bacteria) which protect us.  Babies don't develop their normal flora until they are 6 months to a year old.  People on antibiotics kill off their normal, good bacteria along with whatever bacterial disease they are trying to rid themselves of.  So the tiny amount of spores and Botox in honey and corn syrup is enough to make these groups very sick.  The comparatively larger doses of Botulism toxin in contaminated canned foods is enough to make a healthy adult sick, even with our protective normal flora.

You can prevent adult cases of Botulism by properly sterilizing and sealing canned foods, and heating foods to 100 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes during normal cooking.  If you suspect a case of botulism, call 9-1-1 and get to the hospital emergency room!

Treatment includes getting an IV antitoxin as soon as possible.  This helps to neutralize the toxin circulating in your bloodstream.  Gastric washing may be required, as well as surgical tissue removal.  This helps to remove any unabsorbed toxin.  If the paralysis has moved into your respiratory system, you may need an artificial respirator.  Recovery from botulism is a very slow process.