蜡样芽孢杆菌组由一群广泛存在于环境中的、可形成芽孢的、革兰氏阳性、杆状、好氧或兼性厌氧菌组成。这些细菌可以在土壤、海洋沉积物、海水、植物以及动物尸体等环境宿主中分离到。蜡样芽孢杆菌组细菌对人类健康、农业或食品工业存在重大影响，尤其是炭疽芽孢杆菌、严格意义上的蜡样芽孢杆菌和苏云金芽孢杆菌。
严格意义上的蜡样芽孢杆菌可以污染食物（特别是蔬菜和含淀粉类食物），并导致人胃肠道感染，该菌也是欧洲食物中毒暴发事件的主要诱因之一。迄今为止，已报道了22 种与严格意义上的蜡样芽孢杆菌密切相关的物种。由于临床微生物实验室常规的表型鉴定方法很难区分蜡样芽孢杆菌和组内的其他成员。因此，所有归因于蜡样芽孢杆菌的侵袭性感染不一定是由严格意义上的蜡样芽孢杆菌引起，也有可能由蜡样芽孢杆菌组的其他相关物种引发。
蜡样芽孢杆菌可引发两种类型的食物中毒，即呕吐型和腹泻型综合征，两者在症状和来源上有所不同。呕吐型综合征是由呕吐毒素cereulide引起的中毒反应。该毒素通常在食物被摄入前就已形成。它会导致迅速出现的恶心和呕吐症状（摄入后30分钟-6小时内发作），与严重的临床病症相关，尤其是因肝衰竭导致的致命病例。腹泻型综合征与摄入被污染食物后小肠内肠毒素的产生有关。这些毒素包括非溶血性毒素（Nhe，nheABC编码）、溶血素BL（Hbl，hblCDA编码）和细胞毒素K（CytK，cytK-2或B. cytotoxicus cytK-1基因变体编码）。致病菌可以通过营养细胞或孢子形式被摄入，一旦进入肠道后孢子发芽、繁殖并产生肠毒素，摄入后5-24小时腹痛和大量腹泻症状开始出现。该病症临床症状较轻，多为自限性，通常24小时内可自行缓解且无需特殊治疗，但也存在个案报道病例，部分患者可能因继发坏死性肠炎等严重并发症导致死亡。
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