Botulism classification

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Michael Maddaleni, B.S.

Botulism can be classified into foodborne, wound and infant botulism. Iatrogenic botulism and adult intestinal toxemia are rare types of botulism. They are differed from each other according to the mode of infection and the clinical presentation.

Common types

Botulism is commonly classified into the following categories:

• Foodborne botulism: caused by eating foods that contain the botulinum toxin.
• Wound botulism: caused by toxin produced from a wound infected with Clostridium botulinum. This is the rarest type of botulism.
• Infant botulism: caused by consuming the spores of the botulinum bacteria, which then grow in the intestines and release toxin.

Uncommon types

Uncommon types of botulism include:^[1]

• Iatrogenic botulism: occurs secondary to therapeutic (e.g. esophageal achalasia, cervical dysplasia, strabismus, blepharospasm, and muscle spasms) or cosmetic injection (botox) of botulinum toxin.
• Adult intestinal toxemia: is a very rare kind of botulism that occurs in adults when spores of the bacteria enter the gastrointestinal tract and produce botulin toxin toxin.

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