Food Intoxication
This form of food poisoning is called botulism. The poison which forms is the specific toxin produced by the activity of the bacillus botulinus. The botulis itself lives on decayed organic matter, therefore it is of the saprophyte type. This poison is found in a great many different foods of both plant and animal origin. The intoxication in botulism affects the central nervous system. It is a febrile condition and there are no gastro-intestinal disturbances. Usually the symptoms in botulism will appear from eighteen to thirty-six hours after the poison has been taken into the stomach. There are cases on record in which the symptoms have appeared within four hours. The period of incubation depends upon the amount of toxin ingested and the ability of Innate Intelligence to adapt the body to the poison.
The symptoms usually begin with headache and dizziness, feeling of fatigue and muscular weakness. One of the early symptoms is a disturbance of vision which may progress until the patient is blind. Both the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles of the eye become involved. There is blepharoptosis and the pupils become dilated. There is diplopia and the loss of adaptative response of the eye to the light. There is soon complete loss of accommodation, opthalmoplegia, nystagmus, strabismus and in some cases photophobia.
Concurrent with the beginning of the disturbances of vision there is difficulty in swallowing and talking, with a feeling of throat contraction. There may be frequent attacks of strangling, with extreme dryness of the mouth and throat, which result in a cough. Stubborn constipation results from lack of peristalsis. Beginning in the intestines and passing gradually upward there is progressive, ascending paralysis. The lack of proper nervous tone is evidenced by fatigue, drowsiness, headache and unsteadiness in walking which may result in a steppage gait, there is great muscular weakness and incontinence of urine. Other prominent symptoms are an insufficient secretion of saliva, sweat and tears and a deficiency in the excretion of urine. This results in a typical “dry man” condition. Later in the course of the dis-ease the temperature is subnormal and the pulse rapid. There may be paralysis of the laryngeal and pharyngeal muscles, which results in an inability to swallow. There may be complete aphonia. The case is very likely to develop bronchopneumonia, in which event there will be temperature. The facial expression is that of great anxiety and utter helplessness. The sensation of strangling becomes more frequent and there is a struggle for breath, death eventually resulting. The duration of this dis-ease varies greatly. Death may result in forty-eight hours after the poison has been ingested. Seldom will a condition run more than eight days. In cases that recover, convalescence is very slow. The patient may be many months recovering. The prognosis in botulism is considered very unfavorable, the mortality being as high as 100% in some outbreaks. The lowest mortality, according to statistics, is 37.5%.
Microscopic examination of the bodies which are the victims of botulism has revealed a great congestion of the central nervous system and also of the abdominal and thoracic viscera. Some have shown a great number of hemorrhages at the base of the brain and the upper portion of the spinal cord; the lungs are also congested. Originally it was supposed that food intoxication came only from sausage or other meat, but it has later been proven that this poison might develop not only in meat but in such food as string beans, cottage cheese, corn, asparagus, spinach and ripe olives. It has also been found in turkey, chicken and fish. Most cases of botulism result from the eating of foods that have received some preservative treatment; seldom will it be caused from the eating of fresh foods. Chiropractically this condition is in the poison family and would involve S.P. and K.P. as a major.