CBRNE - Botulism Workup

  • Author: Peter P Taillac, MD; Chief Editor: Robert G Darling, MD, FACEP   more...
 
Updated: Mar 23, 2010
 

Laboratory Studies

  • Laboratory confirmation
    • Before treatment with antitoxin, obtain 10-15 mL of serum, 25-50 g of feces, and possibly 25-50 mL of fluid from gastric aspiration. Collect and refrigerate similar quantities of suspected food samples for testing. In constipated patients, a gentle saline enema may be required to obtain fecal specimens.
    • Label each specimen container with the patient's name, specimen type, date of collection, and medications being received, and send it to a state health department-approved reference laboratory in insulated cold packs. Contact your local health department for specific instructions.
    • Confirmation of the organism and/or toxin and toxin typing is obtained in almost 75% of cases. Early cases are more likely to be diagnosed by toxin assay, whereas later ones are more likely to have a positive culture. Laboratory confirmation of toxin presence is via a mouse bioassay, and identification of the toxin type is performed by a mouse toxin neutralization test.
  • Food-borne botulism
    • For food-borne botulism, toxin is found in serum samples 39% of the time and in stools 24% of the time.
    • Organisms are found in cultures of stool samples 55% of the time.
    • Stool cultures generally are more sensitive than toxin detection for specimens obtained later (>3 d postingestion) in the course of illness.
  • Infant botulism
    • In patients whom infant botulism is suspected, stools and enema fluids (with minimal water added to limit dilution of toxin) are the specimens of choice, as serum is only rarely toxin positive.
    • One also may wish to culture possible sources of clostridia, such as honey or house dust.
  • Wound botulism: Wound botulism may be identified by detection of toxin in serum or by culture of wound specimens.
  • Adult colonization botulism: Organisms may be detected in stool and toxin in serum for up to 119 days following the onset of symptoms.
  • New methods of detection: In vitro methods of detection, including polymerase chain reaction-based detection of clostridial genes and ELISA identification of toxin, but these methods are not widely available outside of research institutions.
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Contributor Information and Disclosures
Author

Peter P Taillac, MD  Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery, Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Utah Health Sciences Center

Peter P Taillac, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians, National Association of EMS Physicians, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

Joseph Kim, MD  Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine, Western Medical Center; Clinical Instructor, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Specialty Editor Board

Edward Bessman, MD  Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine, John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center; Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Edward Bessman, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Academy of Emergency Medicine, American College of Emergency Physicians, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD  Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy; Editor-in-Chief, Medscape Drug Reference

Disclosure: Medscape Salary Employment

Barry J Sheridan, DO  Chief Warrior in Transition Services, Brooke Army Medical Center

Barry J Sheridan, DO is a member of the following medical societies: American Academy of Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

John D Halamka, MD, MS  Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Chief Information Officer, CareGroup Healthcare System and Harvard Medical School; Attending Physician, Division of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

John D Halamka, MD, MS is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians, American Medical Informatics Association, Phi Beta Kappa, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Robert G Darling, MD, FACEP  Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Military and Emergency Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, F Edward Hebert School of Medicine; Associate Director, Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine

Robert G Darling, MD, FACEP is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians, American Medical Association, American Telemedicine Association, and Association of Military Surgeons of the US

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

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Bioterrorist Agents. Signs and symptoms. Chart courtesy of North Carolina Statewide Program for Infection Control and Epidemiology (SPICE), copyright University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, www.unc.edu/depts/spice/bioterrorism.html.
Courtesy of Arnon SS, et al. Botulinum toxin as a biological weapon: medical and public health management. JAMA 2001 Apr 25;285:1059.
 
 
 
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