Botulism This poisoning by green beans threatens to mortal danger

Botulism: German couple poisoned by green beans

A German couple has heavily poisoned by eating self-pickled green beans. The patients had to spend months in the intensive care unit due to the life-threatening poisoning of botulism.

Life-threatening poisoning after eating green beans

In the University Hospital Halle (Saale) a German couple had to be treated for months after they had contracted a heavy poisoning by eating self-pickled green beans. According to a report in the medical journal Journal of Medical Case Reports, the vegetables in the 47-year-old woman and the 51-year-old man had triggered the life-threatening poisoning of botulism.

At Halle University Hospital (Saale), a couple was treated for months after they had incurred the life-threatening poisoning botulism by eating self-pickled beans. Picture: gitusik-fotolia

At the University Hospital Halle (Saale), a couple was treated for months after they had incurred the life-threatening poisoning botulism by eating self-pickled beans.

Paralysis of the limbs and respiratory muscles

Like the doctors around Dr. med. Dorothea Hellmich from the University Hospital and Department of Neurology, Halle University Hospital (Saale) report, the woman in the hospital with symptoms such as dizziness, diplopia (double vision), speech disorders (dysarthria) and ptosis (hanging of the eyelid) was recorded.

The complaints had been going on for about eight hours. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed normal results.

Her neurological symptoms, however, deteriorated rapidly. The patient could not open her eyes, limbs and respiratory muscles were paralyzed.

According to the information, the patient had to be artificially ventilated around 24 hours after admission to the clinic.

The husband of the woman came to the hospital a day later with similar symptoms.

Their marriage was complicated by autonomic changes such as hypertension, fever, and debilitating bowel obstruction.

Doctors diagnosed botulism

The doctors quickly assumed that botulism could be behind the complaints, especially when the couple's son reported that his parents had eaten beans of unknown age two days before hospitalization.

He said he did not want to eat it because of a strange smell.

The suspicion of the doctors confirmed. They detected in the woman the toxin botulinum toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.

High mortality rate

Botulism is a life-threatening poisoning that, according to health experts, can be caused, among other things, by the consumption of spoiled meat or fish.

"Food poisoning by the pathogen Clostridium (Cl.) Botulinum is relatively rare. In Germany, around 20 cases are reported to the Robert Koch Institute each year, "reports the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR)..

The physicians of the University Hospital Halle (Saale) write that there are less than ten cases per year.

"Due to the high mortality rate, botulism is still a serious health and food hygiene problem," said the BfR, which pointed out in the past that even self-produced herbal oils threaten health risks, since "the production processes in the home can not ensure that the proliferation of Clostridium (C.) botulinum and the formation of botulinum toxin in the products is generally prevented ".

"Botulism must be dealt with promptly, otherwise it can lead to death," wrote the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture last year in a communication warning against the consumption of dried fish products.

Patients had to be treated for months

The couple in the University Hospital Halle (Saale) was treated quickly and for a very long time. Both had to stay in hospital for several months.

The man was discharged home after eight months without a neurological deficit, but with symptoms such as weakness and muscle aches.

After five and a half months, the woman was able to be weaned from mechanical ventilation and released from the rehabilitation hospital after eleven months.

"The neurological symptoms caused by botulism had completely resolved. However, she still felt weak and remained in a depressive adjustment disorder, "said the study authors. (Ad)