Infant Botulism: Checklist for Timely Clinical Diagnosis and New Possible Risk Factors Originated from a Case Report and Literature Review

• Published in: Toxins Vol. 13; no. 12; p. 860
• Main Authors: Dilena, Robertino, Pozzato, Mattia, Baselli, Lucia, Chidini, Giovanna, Barbieri, Sergio, Scalfaro, Concetta, Finazzi, Guido, Lonati, Davide, Locatelli, Carlo Alessandro, Cappellari, Alberto, Anniballi, Fabrizio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 02.12.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Adults; Agammaglobulinemia; Age; Antibiotics; Babies; Bacteria; Botulism; Botulism - diagnosis; Botulism - therapy; Breastfeeding & lactation; Case reports; Check lists; Checklist; Clostridium botulinum - isolation & purification; Coinfection; Constipation; Cytomegalovirus; Cytomegalovirus - isolation & purification; Cytomegalovirus Infections - diagnosis; Diagnosis; diagnostic criteria; Dust; Food; Food contamination; Humans; Hypogammaglobulinemia; Illnesses; Infant; infant botulism; Infants; Literature reviews; Male; Microbiota; Physicians; Risk analysis; risk factor; Risk Factors; Toxins; Ventilators; United States > US; California; diagnosis; diagnostic criteria; infant botulism; hypogammaglobulinemia; cytomegalovirus; risk factor
• ISSN: 2072-6651; 2072-6651
• DOI: 10.3390/toxins13120860

Infant botulism is a rare and underdiagnosed disease caused by BoNT-producing clostridia that can temporarily colonize the intestinal lumen of infants less than one year of age. The diagnosis may be challenging because of its rareness, especially in patients showing atypical presentations or concomitant coinfections. In this paper, we report the first infant botulism case associated with Cytomegalovirus coinfection and transient hypogammaglobulinemia and discuss the meaning of these associations in terms of risk factors. Intending to help physicians perform the diagnosis, we also propose a practical clinical and diagnostic criteria checklist based on the revision of the literature.