ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies animal diseases that are host specific and reviews the effects of various human diseases on animals. It also identifies history, etiologic, human Infection, diagnosis, public health aspects and therapeutic aspects of each disease important to epidemiology and prevention. The disease is caused by ingestion of food in which Clostridium botulinum has grown, producing preformed toxin. Spores of C. botulinum are present in soil throughout the world, although most of the recorded outbreaks of botulism have been reported north of the Tropic of Cancer with the exception of Argentina. The incidence of botulism worldwide correlates closely with the food habits of the population and the degree of soil contamination by C. botulinum. Human botulism occurs in three distinct forms: foodborne botulism, wound botulism, and infant botulism. The multiplicity of clinical symptoms and the complex neuropathology of foodborne botulism make diagnosis difficult, especially when the disease is confined to a single individual.
