Word: botulin
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Cause of the disaster, as in similar instances rarely but regularly reported in the U.S., was botulin-a deadly nerve poison secreted by a microbe (Clostridium botulinum), probably from soil. The germs produce botulin only under airless conditions, are hard to kill even by boiling. And since the beets were served cold, Mrs. Gruwell had not boiled them-which might have destroyed the poison...
Though it is the most concentrated poison known (one ounce could, theoretically, kill 100 million people), the botulin did not show its effects until the next day. Then the Gruwells and the four beet-eating Nelsons started to get headaches, feel dizzy, see double. Soon they could not swallow or speak clearly. They were taken to Idaho Falls' Latter-day Saints' Hospital, where their illness was quickly diagnosed. But then the doctors' difficulties began...
Botulism, the deadliest of all food poisonings, was reported only twice, but it killed four of its five victims. Since the bacteria which secrete botulin can thrive only when they are carelessly sealed in a nourishing medium without air, botulism nowadays is associated with home canning. In California, two victims ate home-canned mushrooms; in Oregon, two ate home-canned beets. They would have been all right if they had reboiled the food...
...Botulin, manufactured by a common bacillus in badly preserved food, is the most deadly poison known: one ounce theoretically could kill 100 million people...