Board of Health discusses botulism cases

EPHRATA — Wednesday night’s meeting was the first opportunity for the Grant County Board of Health to sit down and discuss the two botulism-related deaths in Grant County last month.

Washington State Public Health Laboratory tests confirmed the botulism toxin in the deaths of an elderly male and female in February. Botulism is a rare muscle-paralyzing disease caused by a toxin made by bacteria. The three distinctive types of botulism are foodborne, infant and wound. It can affect any individual of any age, but it can be easily prevented Health officer Dr. Alex Brzezny said.

“Botulism is made by a bacteria that can survive after canning. It lives in soil. It can live in food that’s been canned improperly,” Dr. Brzezny said. “We typically ingest the toxin, then it causes us nerve disease. It can be easily prevented.”

You cannot tell botulism by smelling it, looking at the jar or looking at the popped lid. If you don’t know how it was canned, there is no way of telling. Keeping infants under 12 months away from honey is one preventive measure suggested.

While the specific food source of the two botulism-related deaths has not been confirmed, home canning or prepared food is the Grant County Health District’s suspected source.

“Grant County is not a greater risk than any other place, but the threat is greater for people whose practices are in canning a lot of food,” Dr. Brzezny said. “Especially high-risk food like meat, fish, low-acidity food like carrots or asparagus. Asparagus is reported almost every year for causing botulism, because it’s not very acidic. So, if improperly canned it causes problems. It’s important to know that if you can at temperatures of 209 degrees for non-pressurized and 245 for pressurized it is just enough to kill the spore and not just the bacteria.”

Said administrator Theresa Adkinson, “Tonight was a good chance to discuss the botulism. It’s the first time we’ve been face-to-face since (the deaths) happened,” she explained. “When we get closer to the canning season, we’re going to work with the WSU extension and Douglas County. They do a lot of canning process and they’ve offered to come up. Our staff was surprised to learn a lot about tomatoes. We all thought tomatoes were safe, but the USDA has a requirement that tomatoes not be canned.”

Botulism in Washington is extremely rare. The last case in Grant County was in 2002 and was linked to home-canned green beans. According to the Center for Disease Control, over the past 50 years mortality from botulism has decreased from about 50 percent to 3 to 5 percent. As in most cases of food-related poisoning, cases of botulism are largely preventable by proper food preparation and canning.

The health department and Washington State University Grant-Adams Extension is developing plans for offering pressure-canner lid testing. For more information on food safety go to http://ext100.wsu.edu/grant-adams/health/food-preservation-safety.