Incidence of Clostridium botulinum Type E in Fish Products in the United Kingdom

UNLIKE other areas of the world, such as the United States, Japan and Scandinavia, the British Isles, until recently, appeared to be free from the presence of Clostridium botulinum type E . Early surveys by Meyer and Dubovsky 1 , Leighton and Buxton 2 , Haines 3 , and more recently by Dolman 4 and Cann et al. 5 , failed to demonstrate its presence either in soil in the British Isles or in sea muds and fish from traditional British fishing grounds. A recent examination by Hobbs et al. 6 of more than two hundred commercial vacuum-packed fish purchased in the United Kingdom and of the intestines of a hundred fresh North Sea herring gave no toxic samples. Nevertheless, type E botulism could arise from the ingestion of fish imported from areas where there is a high incidence of Cl. botulinum type E. 5,7 .