1. First confirmed case of infant botulism in Africa, caused by a dual-toxin-producing Clostridium botulinum strain
- Author
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Marné N. Vosloo, Christoffel J. Opperman, Hermanus D.W. Geyer, Grace M. Setshedi, Mushal Allam, Stanford Kwenda, Arshad Ismail, Zamantungwa T.H. Khumalo, Adrian J. Brink, John A. Frean, and Jennifer Rossouw
- Subjects
Infant botulism ,Clostridium botulinum ,Botulinum toxin ,South Africa ,Bivalent ,Infectious and parasitic diseases ,RC109-216 - Abstract
Botulism, a rare life-threatening toxemia, is probably underdiagnosed in all of its forms in Africa. This study reports the first laboratory-supported case of infant botulism on the African continent. A 10-week-old, previously well infant presented with progressive global weakness, feeding difficulty, and aspiration pneumonia. During a lengthy hospitalization, a rare bivalent Clostridium botulinum strain, producing subtype B3 and F8 toxins and with a new multilocus sequence type, was isolated from stool. The infant was successfully treated with a heptavalent botulinum antitoxin infusion and pyridostigmine. Despite the relative rarity of infant botulism, this case illustrates the importance of maintaining a high level of clinical suspicion when assessing hypotonic infants. The value of modern diagnostic modalities in identifying and characterizing this under-recognized condition is also demonstrated.
- Published
- 2021
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