Infant botulism acquired from household dust presenting as sudden infant death syndrome.
Clostridium botulinum type B was detected by multiplex PCR in the intestinal contents of a suddenly deceased 11-week-old infant and in vacuum cleaner dust from the patient's household. C. botulinum was also isolated from the deceased infant's intestinal contents and from the household dust. The genetic similarity of the two isolates was demonstrated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis, thereby confirming that dust may act as a vehicle for infant botulism that results in sudden death.
Nevas
Mari
M
Department of Food and Environmental Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 66, 00014 Helsinki University, Finland. mari.nevas@helsinki.fi
Lindström
Miia
M
Virtanen
Antti
A
Hielm
Sebastian
S
Kuusi
Markku
M
Arnon
Stephen S
SS
Vuori
Erkki
E
Korkeala
Hannu
H
D001905:Botulinum Toxins / Q000235:genetics; D019274:Botulinum Toxins, Type A; D001906:Botulism / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology; D003014:Clostridium botulinum / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000209:etiology*
D004391:Dust; C096323:rimabotulinumtoxinB; D001905:Botulinum Toxins; D019274:Botulinum Toxins, Type A