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Household Dust May Be Source of Infant Botulism
Jan 16, 2005, 13:29, Reviewed by: Dr.
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By Nikhil, Journals Correspondent,
Household Dust May Be Source of Infant Botulism
A fatal case of infant botulism may have been contracted from household dust, say researchers from Finland and California. The case study appears in the January 2005 issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.
Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium that produces the toxin responsible for botulism, is typically harmless in adults because it cannot grow in the presence of oxygen. But the bacteria have been known to grow in the intestines of infants under the age of 1, often resulting in weakness, paralysis and even death. The sudden onset of infant botulism followed by unexplained death bears a resemblance to circumstances associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
In the case study the intestinal contents of an eleven-week old infant who died suddenly were tested for the presence of C. botulinum. Vacuum cleaner dust from the patient's house was also collected and tested for the bacterium. Researchers found genetically similar isolates of C. botulinum in both. The study noted that the child had been healthy since birth and no environmental factors that could predispose an infant to botulism were identified.
"For the first time the C. botulinum isolates from an intestinally colonized infant and from household dust from the infant's home were demonstrated to be genetically similar," say the researchers. "This genetic similarity suggests that airborne spores of C. botulinum in an infant's surroundings may cause infant botulism and, as in this case, also result in the fulminant form of the illness that resembles SIDS." 
- Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 43. 1: 511-513
American Society for Microbiology
(M. Nevas, M. Lindstrom, A. Virtanen, S. Hielm, M. Kuusi, S.S. Arnon, E. Vuori, H. Korkeala. 2005. Infant botulism acquired from household dust presenting as sudden infant death syndrome. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 43. 1: 511-513.)
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