infant botulism…

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infant intestines, type of botulism, bacteria, clostridium botulinum, grow, an infant's gastrointestinal tract, produce a toxin, cause a potentially life-threatening disease, clostridium botulinum, spore-forming organism that is common in nature, spores found in soil, foods, honey, corn syrups, elsewhere, disease occurs mostly in young infants between 6 weeks, 6 months of age, onsets, 6 days, one year have been reported, risk factors include the ingestion of honey, young age, contact, soil, breast-feeding, having less than one stool per day, prolonged period, greater than 2 months, incubation period unknown, most frequent symptom is constipation, "floppy infant" secondary to muscle weakness, hypotonia, tired all the time, lethargy, weak cry, due to muscle weakness, poor feeding, weak suck, due to muscle weakness, loss of head control, infant doesn't gag, absent, decreased gag reflex, respiratory distress, due to muscle weakness, eyelids sag, partially close, ptosis, due to muscle weakness, descending paralysis, respiratory failure, physical examination shows the symptoms described, decreased muscle tone, hypotonia, an absent, decreased gag reflex, absent, decreased deep tendon reflexes, eyelid drooping, ptosis, laboratory testing consists of checking a stool sample to demonstrate, botulinum toxin, in the stool, demonstration of clostridium botulinum, in the stool, a special muscle test known, electromyography, emg, differentiate between muscle abnormalities, neurologic abnormalities, mainstay of treatment is supportive, keeping the airway clear, observing, respiratory difficulty, ensuring adequate nutrition, respiratory distress develops, respiratory support, use of a ventilator indicated, botulism immune globulin, new form of treatment, infants, botulism, it is not a cure, reduce the duration, severity of infant botulism, should discuss the risks, benefits of this treatment, antibiotics, not appear to increase the rate of improvement, antibiotics, not needed, a secondary infection, pneumonia, develops, use of human-derived botulinum antitoxin, of benefit, full recovery is expected, early recognition, supportive treatment, death, permanent disability, complicated cases, respiratory insufficiency, requiring assistance, breathing, mechanical ventilation, infant botulism, life-threatening, infant has one, the symptoms of botulism, theoretically, disease might be avoided by preventing exposure to spores, honey, corn syrup, sources of clostridium spores, should not be fed to infants under 12 months of age, breast-feeding appears to be a risk factor, infantile botulism, overall risk is very low, benefits of breast-feeding still greatly outweigh the risks in nearly all cases.