Infant Botulism

weekend warrior, BSN, RN · Jul 28, 2006

I'm sorry about your neice's son, I'm glad he is recovering!

That does seem strange, I've been in peds for over 13 yrs and I've only seen 2 cases myself. Granted both very severe cases needing to be in the ICU for months while on the vent until the paralysis wore off.

But it is very rare.

It usually has to do with babies being fed honey, or honey in home made baby food.

Those cases in California would make me suspicious that there is some source that the public has access to, like a food processing plant?

km5v6r, EdD, RN · Jul 30, 2006

We recently had a baby the docs test for this. The intensivist was discussing how rare infant botulism is except in California. He said that the botulism organism actually is found in the the soil in Cal naturally. After one of the major earthquakes out there several cases of botulism came up that were traced back to the ground being stirred up with the quake. At least some of those cases involved infants. Has there been any earth tremors near your niece and the baby lately?

Kathy

ukstudent · Jul 31, 2006

I have seen two cases in Maryland within 6 months of each other. Both were from the soil and not from honey or canned food. I doubt it would not be diagnosed and under reported as botulism acts like nothing else.

AlabamaBelle · Aug 1, 2006

Our PICU educator is from Philadelphia and Pittsburg areas and said that they see infant botulism up there enough that the hospitals she worked in had a clinical pathway/care plan specifically for infant botulism.

We had a case in our PICU that resembled infant botulism. Labs were drawn and sent out, but I never heard one way or the other if botulism was confirmed.

Cindy,RN

Cheyenne RN,BSHS · Aug 1, 2006

when my son was an infant there was a baby in egleston in atlanta that had infant botulism and the thing i remember is that she was a breast fed baby and the doctor's said how rare that was. i wasn't a nurse back then but i remember the baby. she made it and got to go home eventually.

Katie612 · Aug 1, 2006

I've only been in the PICU for a couple of months and we had a case of infant botulism. Her mother fed her honey to help her constipation, she ended up vented for a week or two, but totally recovered...

photorn · Aug 2, 2006

Thanks for your replies. He has done so well that he never needed to be vented and actually came home Saturday. He has regained all of his motor functions except that his head control is back to when he was a newborn but they figure he will regain that with a bit of PT. Since they diagnosed him so quickly and he received that shot so quickly he has made a very rapid recovery. Only spent 2 weeks in the hospital. He has also had so many people praying for him which I am sure is what helped the most. Thanks again.

JazzyRN · Aug 7, 2006

On an assignment in Los Angeles, I encountered my 1st and only infant botulism patient. He was a breastfed baby as well, but didnt need to be intubated, just monitored closely in the PICU for possible resp. distress. I do find it strange how common botulism is in California, since being back on the east coast I havent seen another case of it. Very interesting...

rnsusan · Aug 15, 2006

I have seen 3 cases of infant botulism. All 3 spent time on the vent. The third one came to the floor unit where I worked via EMS. The referring community hospital did not have a clue how sick the child was. I took one look at the child and know that it was a matter of time before the child stopped breathing. I pick up the phone to the resident to get the child moved to the unit. The child ended up on the vent less than 12 hours later.