Quantitative Evidence of Intestinal Colonization by Clostridium botulinum in Four Cases of Infant Botulism

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 141; no. 4; pp. 419 - 423
• Main Authors: Wilcke, Burton W., Midura, Thaddeus F., Arnon, Stephen S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The University of Chicago Press 01.04.1980; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Botulinum Toxins - biosynthesis; Botulism; Botulism - microbiology; Clostridium botulinum; Clostridium botulinum - isolation & purification; Clostridium botulinum - physiology; Diseases; Fecal flora; Feces; Feces - microbiology; Female; Humans; Infant; Infectious diseases; Ingestion; Intestines; Intestines - microbiology; Male; Specimens; Toxins
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/141.4.419

Infant botulism is an infectious form of a disease heretofore principally known as foodborne intoxication. Previous epidemiologic and laboratory studies have shown that infant botulism results from the ingestion of spores of Clostridium botulinum that subsequently germinate in the infant intestine and produce botulinal toxin. A quantitative study of the fecal microflora of four infants with infant botulism revealed the presence of C. botulinum in numbers as high as 6.0 × 108 colony-forming units (cfu)/g. At various times after the onset of illness, the numbers of C. botulinum that were recovered from feces ranged from 103 to 108 cfu/g and constituted from 0.01% to 3.3% of the total fecal flora. It was concluded that the large numbers of C. botulinum found in patients' feces could occur only as a consequence of in vivo spore germination and outgrowth.