Botulism – Infants and Honey

A colleague recently saw a newborn child brought in with trouble breathing. He seemed to be trying to cry, but no noise was coming out of his mouth. He was very “floppy”- just no muscular tone at all. Because he couldn’t breath well, he needed to be put on a ventilator to keep his oxygen up. All the tests in the ER came back normal, so there was no explanation for the child behaving this way. He didn’t seem to have any serious infection such as pneumonia, or sepsis. The brain scan was normal. It turned out that the child was from out of the country, and the parents had given him some honey that may have been contaminated.

Laboratory tests showed this child had infant botulism, which resulted in paralysis, to the point where he couldn’t breath on his own. He had to be kept on a mechanical ventilator and admitted to intensive care, until the infection could be treated fully, but he did well, and gradually regained his strength.