15th April 2018, one of the days in which my reading table couldn’t help but be a sleeping table. Deep down my heart I knew I was just deceiving myself, but then again I had a major exam the next day and I really wanted to burn the night or as we say in this part of the world “Burn the mid-night candle” studying and of course cramming where need be. But Mother Nature in the form of sleep had other plans for me.

There and then the idea struck me; just as every other average student, I decided to take a cup of coffee so the caffeine could keep me awake. After several visits to the bathroom to have my bath and even dipping my feet in water were to no avail. I went to the kitchen, took the can of coffee from the top shelf and brewed for myself a steaming cup of coffee and took it “sans crème ni sucre” that is without cream or sugar “as e dey hot”. Truth be told I don’t like my coffee black but I wanted an effective result.

After taking the coffee, I went back to my “reading table” feeling less sleepy but still sleepy anyway. I raised my head from my table to see it was already 2:00 am. At that point, I couldn’t tell if I had been reading or I had actually slept off. But I could tell one thing for sure; there was a banging pain in my head as though my head was being used as a mortar to pound yam. At this point I started feeling light headed and it was difficult to breathe too.

Luckily for me, my elder sister who was a medical doctor was home. I quickly went to her room, told her how I felt and she asked me to take a lot of water and go back to bed. Whether it was the stubborn me or the exam I had the next day I can’t tell, but going back to bed just wasn't an option for me. So after taking a whole lot of water I went back to my compromised reading table to continue the struggle.

Few minutes into the struggle and the symptoms became worse. I was already running out of breath; things I did see in a movie happening to me in person, "ahh Mogbe" (I’m finished). Not of the Yoruba ethnicity but that was what came to my mind first. I felt my whole muscles contracting as though they’ve been poured cold water starch on. At this point I couldn't take it anymore. I just heard a loud scream; I didn't realise I was the one screaming until my sister came running to my room. I was immediately bed ridden and an antitoxin was administered to me. I still felt restless. I threw up a couple times, water and the rest room had become my close pals.

Finally I slept off, although I can’t say when and how. I woke up by 8:00am feeling lightheaded. It just dawned on me that I was going to miss the same exam I almost killed myself trying to study for. I couldn't get out of bed, my muscles felt like they were being electrocuted. I couldn't keep down my breakfast of scrambled eggs and bread my sister had put together which was my favourite breakfast of course. At this point I couldn't take the pain anymore I started crying. I know I wasn’t supposed to but I just had to.

As a typical Nigerian, different thoughts kept going through my mind; most especially the thought of my village people coming to visit me in the city. My sister managed to carry me to her car together with my cousin so I could be taken to the hospital. There in the car I started convulsing; my whole arms and legs went dead cold. I couldn't scream or even cry anymore as the muscles in my mouth had gone dead. I could only hear myself screaming in my head. My thorax and abdomen were contracting seriously. I could feel life slowly kissing me good bye and there I was still thinking within me “So God this is it”. My sister had started praying, calling on God to save me and calling my mom to leave wherever she was and come to the hospital. Then I remembered I hadn't talked to who I believed most in, so I made a silent prayer to God.

When I got to the hospital, I was rushed immediately to the emergency room where series of tests were carried out. My vision had become blurry, I really felt like sleeping. There my mom was, praying and stretching my contracting fingers; tapping and slapping my cheeks. “Madam you will break those fingers”, “Doctor I serve a living God”, my mom replied almost immediately. You’ve got to trust Nigerian mothers on this. People rushed around me, I didn’t know if this was real or just a figment of my own imagination.

When I felt life slowly seeping out of me something came to my nose immediately to revive me. A nebulizer was used to administer a drug to me and my contracted legs and arms were slowly getting relaxed; but my mom wouldn’t let me sleep. Yes you guessed right, cause of fear I'd die in my sleep. Nigerian moms are a blessing trust me.

After the whole episode, I slept off and felt better when I woke up. My all caring mum was already blaming and hitting me for almost killing myself with excess caffeine all in the name of studying. But there the doctor was telling her that what happened wasn’t an adverse reaction to coffee or caffeine, but a case of BOTULISM; “Botu what?” “Botulism madam” the doctor replied.

The Story Behind...

_{Clostridium botulinum [License:Public Domain]: Wikicommons}

Actually, this wasn't a case of my village people visiting me. Maybe, just maybe somehow they were actually involved; come on am an African, definitely not ruling out the possibility. On a more serious note, I was struck by a poisonous toxin produced by a bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. Wouldn’t want to bore you with the details of Clostridium botulinum being a Gram-positive bacteria and all that. But of a fact, Clostridium botulinum which which causes botulism poisoning is an anaerobic bacteria. Which means it doesn’t require oxygen to reproduce. It grows mostly on foods and then produces a toxin called botulinum toxin. This toxin when ingested, then leads to botulism which is mostly characterized by paralysis.

Generally, there are three kinds; The food, infant and wound botulism. The most fatal being the food botulism; which was what I experienced. As the name implies, infant botulism happens or occurs in infants; and as such, parents are advised to avoid giving honey to children between the age(s) of 0-12 months Source.

The coffee I brewed had been long overdue in the shelf and had been infected with Clostridium botulinum toxin. The toxins became active when I drank the coffee and gave me a real life scenario of what goes on in the movie industry. Botulism is very deadly and cases of it should be treated as an emergency. No jokes!

The driving force behind the botulinum toxin

Basically, every part, organ, cell and what have you of the body communicates with each other. This method of communication is referred to as cell signaling. Truth be told, cell signaling is very vital as it plays a major role in one’s day to day activities. Imagine not being able to woo or as we call it here “chyke” a girl all because your brain cells couldn’t communicate to you that what you are seeing is a pretty girl and not a goat. Sorry I had to use that illustration, but some guys if not most take wooing of a lady as not just a hobby but a handiwork; stand to be corrected though. Back to the issue at hand, truth is the list of mishaps would just be endless if there is no cell signaling. For more read up @kingabesh’s post on Biosignaling.

Now for cell signaling to be complete, neurotransmitters otherwise known as chemical messengers are required. The messenger needed for muscle contraction is acetylcholine. To cut the long story short, this messenger (acetylcholine) simply binds to receptors on the muscle cells, causing them to contract. The toxin in question (botulinum toxin) on the other hand simply acts by preventing the release of acetylcholine; thereby preventing contraction of muscle cells. This was what I described as my muscles having a “a cold water starch” feel.

The way out

The way out, the way forward, whichever; but there is certainly a way. We have established the fact that botulism is dangerous and not a condition to be taken lightly. But the good news is that there is a cure. It’s not as though one has gotten HIV/AIDS of which I think there is a cure for. You didn’t hear that from me please.

For botulism, an antitoxin is administered, although immediate attention needs to be given to the patient as any form of delay could be detrimental. Now the botulinum anti-toxin when administered simply acts by binding to free botulinum toxin in circulation. This binding (Antigen-Antibody) prevents botulinum toxin from interacting with protein receptors on the nerve endings. If botulinum toxin doesn’t interact with these protein receptors, then Acetylcholine would be free to bind, thus causing muscles to contract and neutralizing the effects of the toxin.

Is Botulism Communicable?

Really don’t want to look more of a story teller; so I’d rather answer this directly. Botulism is not contagious per se. Take for instance, if my cousin had summoned up courage and brewed the same coffee as I did. I must say I was truly courageous that day. Now he might be affected by the same botulinum toxin, but would we say it was communicable? Of course not, I mean that’s just our village people using our lives to play on a mary-go-round. In a nut-shell, its not contagious.

Conclusion

Cases of botulism are very rare but deadly. Mine was an almost fatal case, because of food-borne botulism; which is commonly associated with canned foods or low-acid food that was not processed using correct preservation times, pressure and method. One sure way of preventing botulism is by watching what goes into our mouth. To this regard, one has to be very careful; most especially these days that virtually everything has a canned version, except the body fluids of course. Who knows they might exist, just saying cause i haven't seen a canned semen or amniotic fluid.

References

What is Botulism?. Retrieved on 30th May, 2018.

Is Botulism Contagious?. Retrieved on 31st May, 2018.

Botulinum Toxin. Retrieved on 2nd June, 2018.

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All images are from Flickr, Pixabay and wikicommons licensed under creative commons and eligible for commercial use.

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