Botulism is a potentially fatal illness that typically causes paralysis, a condition that manifests itself as total body muscle weakness and is primarily caused by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum however Clostridium butyricum and Clostridium baratii have been reported in some cases to be able to cause botulism but this is highly unusual. C. botulinum is an intoxicative bacterium and has the ability to produce a potent neurotoxin (neurotoxic protein) called botulinum toxin from its heat resistant endospores. The neurotoxin is only produced when the endospores of Clostridium botulinum germinate in an environment absent of oxygen. This behaviour shows that C. botulinum is an anaerobe and prefers an environment without oxygen but it can facilitate
