Epidemiology of botulism in the north-western Romania-a 7-year survey

Botulism is a rare, acute, life-threatening neuro-paralysis. The digestive onset may raise diagnostic issues. The objective of our study was to analyze the clinical and epidemiological data of patients diagnosed with botulism and hospitalized in "Gavril Curteanu" Municipal Clinical Hospital (Oradea, Romania). Detection of the Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin (type B) in the laboratories of the National Institute of Medical-Military Research Development "Cantacuzino", Bucharest, Romania (using the mouse bioassays method) confirmed the diagnostics. The statistical analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS software. Forty-eight patients with the diagnosis of foodborne botulism were hospitalized between 2012 and 2018 (36.92% of the total number of cases of botulism reported in Romania). The winter-spring period was the period when most cases were registered (36 patients, p=0.020). Women from rural areas were predominant (but not statistically significant), and the patients' mean age was 39.93±12.59 years. The most common source/cause of botulism was the consumption of homemade ham. The incubation period was 26.68±22.94 h, and 2.25±1.68 days passed from the clinical onset to diagnosis. The results prove that botulism is still a public health issue, especially in areas where homemade products are prepared using inappropriate/unsafe recipes/procedures.