BANGOR – A Madawaska man and his teen-age son were recuperating slowly from food-borne botulism Wednesday at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

David Pelletier, 40, and Joshua Pelletier, 13, still were on respirators Wednesday but their general condition was improving, according to Pelletier’s wife, Elaine Pelletier.

It has been verified that the two were poisoned by food-borne botulism, according to Geoff Beckett, chief of the infectious disease epidemiology section at the Maine Bureau of Health, on Wednesday.

Beckett said the last reported case of food-borne botulism in Maine, since records have been kept, was before 1950.

“It is not a common occurrence,” he said.

Beckett said preliminary tests of food specimens ingested by the two, done at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, show that there was a positive toxin test on home-prepared food.

The father and son have been hospitalized since Jan. 14. They became ill Jan. 13 and were first hospitalized at Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent.

“They are getting better,” Elaine Pelletier said. “They are still on respirators, but they are showing signs of improvement.

“This will take a long time,” she said. “There will be many ups and downs in their getting better.”

“There was a positive toxin test on home-prepared food, made with home-canned sauce,” Beckett said. “The food was eaten several days before the onset of the illness.

“There is more testing going on now, and the final results will be made by early next week,” he said. “Tests of food specimens from commercial and restaurant-served food were all negative.”

Beckett said he could not be more specific about the exact food until final test results are completed.

Food specimens tested were those included in a diet history of the two Pelletiers. The food history included foods eaten over a 10-day period.

No other cases of food-borne botulism have been reported since the incident.

Food-borne botulism is caused by spores of bacteria found in canned foods, mostly in those canned at home. The bacteria, which grow best in low- or no-oxygen conditions, secrete a toxin that causes the symptoms of botulism.

The toxin interferes with nerve transmission, causing paralysis and difficulty breathing and swallowing. Victims suffer from the paralysis for weeks, sometimes months. Long-term therapy usually is needed to aid recovery. Symptoms usually appear within 18 to 36 hours of eating contaminated food.