The ECDC has reported 67 cases of botulism patients (some admitted to intensive care) among people who traveled to Turkey with the hope of low-cost weight loss
In recent days, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has reported 67 cases of botulism (paralytic disease caused by the bacterium
Clostridium botulinum
) in patients who were injected with botulinum toxin in Turkey, an advertised treatment for weight loss not approved by Western drug agencies. The procedure, which promises to make people lose weight with a much less invasive procedure than bariatric surgery, has been christened gastric botox. Injection of botulinum toxin into the stomach is done with an endoscope through the mouth. The drug immobilizes the muscles of the stomach wall and prevents them from contracting. In this way the food stays in the stomach longer, slowing down digestion and maintaining the feeling of satiety for longer. This is an experimental treatment, completely off labelthat is outside the recommendations for the use of botulinum toxin, widely used in the aesthetic field.
Symptoms
The cases of botulinum poisoning were almost all recorded in Turkey, a dozen in Germany, one in Austria and another in Switzerland. All patients had referred to two clinics of Istanbul or Izmir to undergo gastric botox between February 22nd and March 1st. At the moment no deaths were reported but many patients have complained weakness, fatigue, difficulty swallowing and breathing, double vision, slurred speech, nausea, diarrhoea. Some people were hospitalized, others in intensive therapy and they were given antibodies to neutralize the toxin. Statistically it happens a death from botulinum toxin poisoning in 15-20% of cases. Those affected by the crippling toxin can take months to fully recover. When dealing with one of the deadliest poisons in the world absolute safety is difficult to guarantee and there is not much leeway in calculating a safe and effective dose where one nanogram of toxin per kilogram of body mass is considered deadly.
What does the science say about the procedure
There is no scientific evidence that gastric botox is really effective for weight loss. Studies with small numbers of patients conducted in Turkey and Egypt concluded that the treatment could lead to 10-15% body weight loss with minimal side effects and a minimally invasive and inexpensive procedure. Even a team of researchers from Malaga already in 2017 had concluded with a review that botulinum toxin could be effective against obesity with a weight loss of up to 5% compared to the placebo drug. However, the same researchers have highlighted that the quality of the works was poor, the studies were not randomized and double-blind and the samples were very limited, therefore a better structured experimentation would have been necessary. The same Malaga team recently published another study signaling that the weight loss was only short-term. Another review conducted by Qatari researchers concluded the same thing: there is no evidence that gastric botox leads to lasting and appreciable weight loss. The effect of the injection is in fact temporary and lasts about three months and the procedure should in any case be repeated every month, with a series of possible side effects, even unknown ones.
The investigations
It is not yet clear what actually happened in the two clinics in Turkey. The botulinum toxin was in fact of an authorized type (although in this case used off label) and the authorities are investigating to see if there was a problem method of administration or dosage in any case, the ECDC invites European citizens not to travel to Turkey to undergo gastric botox, a procedure not approved in Europe and in the West: the risk of botulism is indeed high.
March 21, 2023 (change March 21, 2023 | 19:07)
© Time.News