June 8, 2002
Since You Asked
Botulism bug seldom found in water
I read your recent story about some of our local creeks containing E. coli bacteria, which is scary
enough, but someone told me some of the local creeks also have botulism in them. Is this true?
— M. Rickson, Talent
Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium that causes botulism (the often fatal poisoning caused by botulin,
the nerve toxin the bacterium produce), would be a pretty tough bug to breed in creeks. Commonly found in
soil, it generally requires a low-oxygen environment to flourish.
Most botulism, and it is extremely rare with about 110 annual cases in the United States reported by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, occurs when susceptible infants harbor the bacterium in their
intestines. Twenty-eight percent of the cases come from someone who eats home-canned or other contaminated
food that wasn’t properly prepared or a drug user contracts it through a needle wound.
E. coli, on the other hand, is an annual problem in our creeks during the summer months when creek flows
slow to a relative trickle.
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