A batch of homemade jailhouse wine sickened eight inmates in Utah after it was tainted with dangerous bacteria.
According to ABC News, the wine was tainted with Clostridium botulinum, the bacteria that leads to a botulism infection. After the inmates were hospitalized investigators found traces of the bacteria, which likely to come from the skin of a baked potato. Authorities said the potato was added to the concoction "by the inmate as an experiment."
The inmates were sent to the emergency room after complaining about weakness in the "muscles in their head." The inmates also reportedly had trouble speaking and others complained of double vision and sight problems, ABC News reported.
Dr. Megan Fix, a lead author of the study and an assistant professor of surgery at the Division of Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah Hospital, said the inmates were slurring their words and some had problems breathing. Fix treated the first patient to present symptoms in October 2011.
"The brain is functioning perfectly fine, but you can't control your muscles," she told ABC. "That's why he was so scared. His brain was working but he couldn't control what was going on. He knew he was getting weaker and weaker."
Botulism releases a nerve toxin, "that binds to nerve receptors, poisoning them so they can no longer react." Botulism can be fatal if not treated quickly. The muscle weakness begins from the top of the head, such as the eye muscles and move down.
ABC reported that three of the eight inmates were put on ventilators for up to two months as the bacteria worked their way out of their nervous systems.
"It can take weeks to months. You have to just wait it out," said Fix. "The nerve endings will have to wake up. ... Essentially your nerve endings have to make a new receptor."
The wine was made with juice mix, fresh and canned fruit in a bag. The unidentified inmates told doctors that he made the alcohol "20 times before" using the same ingredients, but this time he added the potato.
An average of 145 cases of botulism are reported every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only 15 percent are food-borne, 20 percent are from wounds, related to drug use and the remaining 65 percent are infant botulism related to honey.
