Explore the recorded discovery and history of Clostridium botulinum, with source links and stated limits.
PHAC describes C. botulinum as Gram-positive, anaerobic, rod-shaped, spore-forming bacilli ranging from 0.5 to 2.4 micrometres in diameter and 1.6 to 22.0 micrometres in length, producing oval-shaped, metabolically dormant endospores that are highly resistant to environmental stressors. Seven toxin serotypes A to G exist and PHAC records that serotypes A, B, E and rarely F cause human botulism; WHO describes the same four types. CDC describes botulism as a rare but serious illness caused by a toxin that attacks the body’s nerves, causing difficulty breathing, muscle paralysis and even death. PHAC states that human-to-human transmission of C. botulinum does not occur.
LPSN records the basonym “Bacillus botulinus” van Ermengem 1896. The epithet comes from the Latin botulus, meaning sausage, because the illness was linked to preserved sausage — the name records a food vehicle rather than a property of the organism.
LPSN records Clostridium botulinum (van Ermengem 1896) Bergey et al. 1923, effectively published in the first edition of Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, and retained on the 1980 Approved Lists of Bacterial Names. Type strain ATCC 25763 / CIP 104310.
These references do not identify a first person ever affected. Outbreaks linked to preserved food were described before the organism was isolated, and because botulism is not transmitted between people there is no chain of transmission to trace to an index case.
Source check: 2026-09-20. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.