STUDIES ON THE SERUM THERAPY OF TYPE E BOTULISM (PART III)

Abstract

Observations of clinical manifestations of type E botulism was made in rabbits and monkeys receiving the toxin in various single doses by the oral route. The animals were also given a fixed dose of antitoxin at various intervals after the oral administration of type E toxin to evaluate the effectiveness of the serum therapy.
Both the incubation period and survival time in animals with type E botulism were proportionately shorter as the oral dose of toxin was increased. Parenteral antitoxin generally protected the animals effectively when it was injected before the onset of clinical manifestations of botulism. The protective effect, however, was not evidenced even if antitoxin had been given prior to the toxic symptoms in animals in which relatively high levels of toxin were already demonstrable in the circulating blood. In contrast, animals receiving oral type E toxin in single doses not greatly exceeding one MLD could effectively be protected to some extent by antitoxin even after the onset of toxic symptoms.
These findings stress the importance of the amount of toxin ingested and absorbed from the alimentary tract in determining the protective effect of antitoxin.
Anaphylaxis-like manifestations, i. e., ataxia, hypothermia, dyspnea, etc., which were followed by prompt deaths, were observed in rabbits and monkeys receiving antitoxin at a certain number of hours oral administration of type E toxin.