Since the beginning of the year, 22 cases of botulism have been registered in Kyrgyzstan. The head of the Office for Supervision over Food Safety and Prevention of Nutritional Diseases of the Department for Disease Prevention and State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance of the Ministry of Health Azamat Imakeev told at a press conference.
According to him, 31 people have fallen ill in total.
Azamat Imakeev added that most often a person gets infected with botulism when eating home canned products.
Botulism is an acute infectious disease caused by the specific action of Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin, the strongest known toxin. The incubation period is from 8 hours to 10 days.
The first and most constant symptoms of botulism are fatigue, dizziness, dry mouth.
The central nervous system, the muscles of the neck and limbs are affected. In the severe cases, patients can not walk themselves, they literally «hang» on those accompanying them. If the patient sits, his head is lowered, it is not easy for him to hold it, it literally falls on his chest. On the second or third day, nausea, bloating, diarrhea appear (gastrointestinal paresis begins). Visual disturbances, «fog», «a grid in front of the eyes» join the symptoms.
