1. What are six causes of food-borne disease?

2. What is the main source of botulism?

3. What are the three main kinds of botulism?

Answers

1. The causes of food-borne disease are; eating contaminated food and beverages, and infections arising from bacteria/viruses/parasites. The six common foodborne inactions are campylobacteriosis, cryptosporidiosis, Giardiasis, Listeriosis, shigellosis and Salmonellosis.

2. The main source of Botulism is infections that arise from bacteria, Clostridium botulium

3. The three kinds of botulism are; foodborne botulism, wound botulism and Infant botulism

Explanation

A foodborne disease is normally caused by eating food which is contaminated including drinks. The infections that result to foodborne illness are caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites. The common symptoms of a foodborne illness are diarrhea and vomiting; stomach flu caused by pathogens and has an incubation period of hours to 1 week. The foods associated with such illness are raw food, contaminated fruits and vegetables, unpasteurized juice and food contaminated by a person who is ill.

Botulism is an illness caused by neurotoxins produced by bacteria called Clostridium Botulinum. The condition can paralyze body muscles and threaten life of a person. Eating contaminated home-canned food increases the chances of a person contracting foodborne botulism. Botulism neurotoxin is among the potential biological weapons.

The three forms of botulism are;

• Foodborne botulism where a bacteria that can live in low oxygen areas such as in home-canned food thrives to produce the toxin. For example, unrefrigerated bulk tofu can get contaminated in this manner

• Wound botulism occurs when neurotoxins are produced by the bacteria within the wound. The bacteria can enter into the cut and cause infection which produces the toxin.

• Infant Botulism happens when an infant eats the spores of the bacteria. In such a case, the bacterial spores will undergo germination in the intestine to produce the toxins. Babies at this risk are those of age 2-8 months.