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Carolyn Carlos
Community Health Practitioner
Togiak, Alaska
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"We
had an outbreak about
a year ago where quite a
few people were
involved,
and they had all eaten stinky head."
|
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"Since
1950, Alaska has had more than 200 people with botulism. More than
20 of
these have died. In fact,
Alaska has more botulism
than any
other state in the country. People have usually gotten botulism from
eating traditional Alaska Native
foods, especially fermented
foods
like fish, seal, beaver,
and
whale."
|
Michael Beller,
MD, MPH
Epidemiologist
Alaska State Division of Public Health
Anchorage, Alaska
|
In the past, about 5 people each year would get
botulism. But since about 1985,
the number of cases each year has increased. There are probably a number
of reasons for this increase. First, doctors and other health care
providers may be better at recognizing the symptoms of botulism, so we may
be finding more people with mild cases that were not recognized in the
past.
A second reason for the increased number of botulism cases is that
people are now using plastic or glass containers more often to ferment
foods. These types of containers do not allow air to circulate and create
an ideal situation for the botulism germs to make their poison. Because
there are more people using plastic or glass containers to prepare
fermented foods, there may be more people getting sick with botulism.
|
 |
Alaska has more botulism than any other state in
the country. |
|
Since about 1985, the number of cases each year
has increased. |
|
People have usually gotten botulism from eating
traditional Alaska Native foods, especially fermented fish, seal, beaver,
and whale. |
|
People
are now using plastic or glass containers more often to
ferment foods. These types of containers do not allow air to
circulate and create an ideal situation for the botulism germs
to make their poison. |
|
|
