Infant botulism. Three cases in a small town
G. R. Istre, R. Compton, T. Novotny, J. E. Young, C. L. Hatheway and R. S. Hopkins
Through Dec 31, 1985, there have been six cases of infant botulism reported
in Colorado. Three of these infants have lived in the same town of 800
people in western Colorado. Two of these three infants developed infant
botulism within a six-month period in late 1981. The infants lived
approximately 400 m apart; they had used the same crib at the time each
developed botulism. A specimen from the crib yielded Clostridium botulinum,
as did four soil samples from the town and house-dust samples from the home
of a relative of the second infant. The third infant developed infant
botulism in September 1984. This infant had not shared the crib. In this
case, all seven samples of soil from various locations in the town yielded
C botulinum, as did a sample of house dust from the home of this infant.
The occurrence of these three cases in such a small town seems unlikely to
be only coincidental. Investigations and reports of other such clusters may
provide insight into modes of transmission of infant botulism.
