Botulinum neurotoxin detection methods for public health response and surveillance

Authors: THIRUNAVUKKARASU, N - Us Food & Drug Administration (FDA); JOHNSON, ERIC - University Of Wisconsin; PILLAI, SEGARAN - Us Food & Drug Administration (FDA); HODGE, DAVID - Us Deparment Of Homeland Security; Stanker, Larry; WENTZ, TRAVIS - Us Food & Drug Administration (FDA); SINGH, BALRAM - University Of Massachusetts; VENKATESWARAN, VENKAT KODUMUDI - Us Food & Drug Administration (FDA); MCNUTT, PATRICK - Us Army Medical Research Institute; ADLER, MICHAEL - Us Army Medical Research Institute; BROWN, ERIC - Us Food & Drug Administration (FDA); HAMMACK, THOMAS - Us Food & Drug Administration (FDA); BURR, DONALD - Us Food & Drug Administration (FDA); SHARMA, SHASHI - Us Food & Drug Administration (FDA)

Submitted to: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/30/2018
Publication Date: 6/22/2018
Citation: Thirunavukkarasu, N., Johnson, E., Pillai, S., Hodge, D., Stanker, L.H., Wentz, T., Singh, B., Venkateswaran, V., Mcnutt, P., Adler, M., Brown, E., Hammack, T., Burr, D., Sharma, S. 2018. Botulinum neurotoxin detection methods for public health response and surveillance. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. 6:80. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2018.00080.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2018.00080

Interpretive Summary: Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are produced by anaerobic clostridial bacteria (Clostridium botulinum, C. argentinense, C. butyricum and C. baratii spp) and cause botulism, a serious neurological disease that is often fatal if untreated. Foodborne botulism is associated with consumption of contaminated food from a variety of sources. The traditional assay (gold standard) for BoNT is the mouse bioassay, an expensive, time consuming assay that relys on use of animals. A less expensive, rapid, in-vitro assay is desirable to meet, food, biothreat, and public health surveillance. The criteria necessary for non-animal based assays to fulfill this need is discussed in this paper.

Technical Abstract: A single suspected case of foodborne botulism caused by food contaminated with botulinum neurotoxin (BoNTs) could evoke public health emergency. The threat of bioterrorism through deliberate distribution in food sources and/or aerosolization of BoNTs raises global public health and security concerns due to the potential for high mortality and morbidity. Rapid and reliable detection methods are necessary to support clinical diagnosis and surveillance for identifying the source of contamination, performing epidemiological analysis of the outbreak, preventing and responding to botulism outbreaks. This review considers the applicability of various BoNT detection methods and examines their fitness-for-purpose in safeguarding the public health and security goals.