HUMAN BOTULISM DUE TO COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS.

Two cases of botulism occurred in Montreal following the ingestion of commercially canned liver paste. A toxigenic, proteolytic strain of Clostridium botulinum type B was isolated from the paste in which type B toxin was also demonstrated by animal protection tests. One patient died undiagnosed about 45 hours after eating several liver-paste sandwiches. The second developed diplopia, dysphagia, speech difficulty and weakness 18 hours after ingestion of three bites of a sandwich. All symptoms progressed until admission to hospital where he was treated with 160,000 units of divalent botulinum AB antitoxin over a 72-hour period. Recovery was complete. The need for readily available supplies of both diagnostic and therapeutic botulinum antitoxin to meet such an emergency is stressed.