Armstrong – Table of Contents

Armstrong proposed some recommendations for the prevention of botulism. He wrote:
“1). The ideal of prevention would be a process of canning which effectively kills all
spore-bearing organisms. However, the great resistance of Bacillus botulinus (Clostridia
botulinum) to heat or other agencies (as shown by Burke (9)) emphasizes the danger that
a few spores may occasionally survive almost any process of canning. 2). Thorough
cooking of all canned food before serving or sampling would render foods infected with
Bacillus botulinus harmless in so far as the presence of preformed toxin is concerned. 3.)
The rejection of canned food which show even minor changes of taste, odor or
consistency. Several of the (above) patients ate of the olives even though they tasted
‘off.’” These recommendations are still applicable at the present time.
Armstrong concluded his publication with the following summary: “1). The
epidemiological investigation pointed to the ripe olives as the vehicle of the poison. 2).
The olives and the brine (in which they were canned) were found to be highly toxic for
animals, both when fed and when injected. 3). The organism isolated from the olives and
brine seemed, from its morphology, cultural characteristics, toxin formation and
pathological lesions produced, to be a strain of Bacillus botulinus. 4). Antitoxin and
agglutinins could not be demonstrated in the blood of recovering patients 45 days after
the dinner. 5). Alcohol had the property of neutralizing the toxin when mixed in vitro. 6).
It would seem that Bacillus botulinus did not produce its toxin under usual conditions in
warm-blooded animals”.
This study, and the outstanding publication (9) resulting from it, is remarkable
considering that Armstrong’s prior professional training consisted of just a medical
school curriculum education, a truncated medical internship, wartime service treating