Webster's New World Medical Dictionary

Bornholm disease
A viral infection that is most
commonly caused by an enterovirus called
Coxsackie B. Symptoms include fever, intense
abdominal and chest pain, and headache. The chest
pain is caused by inflammation of the tissue lining
the lungs, and it is typically worsened by breathing or
coughing. The illness usually lasts from 3 to 14 days.
Also known as epidemic myalgia and pleurodynia.
botox
A highly purified preparation of botulinum
toxin A, a toxin produced by the bacterium
Clostridium botulinum. Botox is injected, in very
small amounts, into specific muscles, as a treatment.
It acts by blocking the transmission of nerve
impulses to muscles and so paralyzes (relaxes) the
muscles. Botox treatment has found a growing num-
ber of uses from easing muscle spasms (as, for
bones, appendicular
54
03_189283 ch02.qxp 4/18/08 10:13 PM Page 54
http://www.rashidislamiccenter.com
http://www.allofislam.com/

---

example, in spastic cerebral palsy) to its increasingly
widespread cosmetic use in flattening wrinkles.
bottlefeeding
The practice of feeding an infant a
substitute for breast milk. Pediatricians generally
advise exclusively breastfeeding (that is, breastfeed-
ing with no supplementary formula) for all full-
term, healthy infants for the first 6 months of life.
However, many infants are bottlefed today, at least in
part. For infants to achieve normal growth and
maintain normal health, infant formulas must
include proper amounts of water, carbohydrate,
protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals.
botulinum toxin
A toxin produced by the bac-
terium Clostridium botulinum, which is the most
poisonous biological substance known. Botulinum
toxin is toxic to nerves. It binds to the nerve ending
at the point where the nerve joins a muscle, block-
ing the release by the nerve of the chemical acetyl-
choline (the principal neurotransmitter at the
neuromuscular junction), preventing the muscle
from contracting. The result is weakness and paral-
ysis of the muscle. Purified botulinum toxin A was
the first bacterial toxin to be used as a medicine. It
is marketed under the trade name Botox. See also
botox; botulism.
botulism
An uncommon but potentially very seri-
ous type of food poisoning that produces paralysis
of muscles, from a nerve toxin called botulinum
toxin that is produced by the bacteria Clostridium
botulinum. There are various types of botulism,
including food-borne, wound, infant intestinal, and
adult intestinal botulism. The symptoms of botulism
can range from mild, including transient nausea
and vomiting, to severe that progress to heart and
lung failure and death. Food-borne botulism occurs
typically in unrefrigerated or poorly refrigerated
foods and foods without preservatives, especially
uncooked or half-cooked meats. It can be pre-
vented by careful use of refrigeration and preserva-
tive techniques, and the toxin can be destroyed with
heat. Clostridium botulin and botulinum toxin
might, it is feared, be misused as agents of bioter-
rorism. See also 
bioterrorism; food poisoning;
botox.