Two cases of food-borne botulism in Finland caused by conserved olives, October 2011

K Jalava; K Selby; A Pihlajasaari; E Kolho; E Dahlsten; N Forss; T Bäcklund; H Korkeala; T Honkanen-Buzalski; T Hulkko; Y Derman; A Järvinen; H Kotilainen; L Kultanen; P Ruutu; O Lyytikaïnen; M Lindström

doi:10.2807/ese.16.49.20034-en

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Two cases of food-borne botulism in Finland caused by conserved olives, October 2011
K Jalava¹ , K Selby² , A Pihlajasaari³ , E Kolho⁴ , E Dahlsten² , N Forss⁴ , T Bäcklund⁴ , H Korkeala² , T Honkanen-Buzalski³ , T Hulkko¹ , Y Derman² , A Järvinen⁴ , H Kotilainen⁵ , L Kultanen⁶ , P Ruutu¹ , O Lyytikaïnen¹ , M Lindström²
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Affiliations: ¹ Department of Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland ² Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland ³ Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira, Helsinki, Finland ⁴ Department of Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland ⁵ City of Helsinki Health Centre, City Hospital, Epidemiology Unit, Finland ⁶ City of Helsinki Environment Centre, Environmental Health Unit, Finland

Correspondence:
K Jalava
katri.jalava thl.fi
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Citation style for this article: Jalava K, Selby K, Pihlajasaari A, Kolho E, Dahlsten E, Forss N, Bäcklund T, Korkeala H, Honkanen-Buzalski T, Hulkko T, Derman Y, Järvinen A, Kotilainen H, Kultanen L, Ruutu P, Lyytikaïnen O, Lindström M. Two cases of food-borne botulism in Finland caused by conserved olives, October 2011. Euro Surveill. 2011;16(49):pii=20034. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.16.49.20034-en Received: 18 Nov 2011

Abstract

In October 2011 in Finland, two persons fell ill with symptoms compatible with botulism after having eaten conserved olives stuffed with almonds. One of these two died. Clostridium botulinum type B and its neurotoxin were detected in the implicated olives by PCR and mouse bioassay, respectively. The olives were traced back to an Italian manufacturer and withdrawn from the market. The public and other European countries were informed through media and Europe-wide notifications.