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Subject:
From:
Ted Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 20 Nov 1999 23:51:01 -0500
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Tim Rich wrote:

>   But more to the case, I have searched out long and hard and cannot find one case where an infant was the victim of botulism from honey(I believe that this has been stated before on this list).

Actually, the search is easy, and yields several studies both in the US and Europe.  I just went online into the National Library of Health Medline data archives and found 30 studies dating from 1976 to the present.  To give just one such example:


Authors
       Arnon SS. Midura TF. Damus K. Thompson B. Wood RM. Chin J.
Title
       Honey and other environmental risk factors for infant botulism.

Source
       Journal of Pediatrics. 94(2):331-6, 1979 Feb.

Abstract
       Infant botulism results from the in vivo production of toxin by Clostridium botulinum after it has colonized the infant's gut. Epidemiologic
       and laboratory investigations of this recently recognized disease were undertaken to identify risk factors and routes by which C. botulinum
       spores might reach susceptible infants. Clostridium botulinum organisms, but no preformed toxin, were identified in six different honey
       specimens fed to three California patients with infant botulism, as well as from 10% (9/90) of honey specimens studied. By food exposure
       history, honey was significantly associated with type B infant botulism (P = 0.005). In California, 29.2% (12/41) of hospitalized patients
       had been fed honey prior to onset of constipation; worldwide, honey exposure occurred in 34.7% (28/75) of hospitalized cases. Of all food
       items tested, only honey contained C. botulinum organisms. On household vacuum cleaner dust specimens and five soil specimens (three
       from case homes, two from control homes) contained Clostridium botulinum. The known ubiquitous distribution of C. botulinum implies that
       exposure to its spores is universal and that host factors contribute importantly to the pathogenesis of infant botulism. However, honey is
       now an identified and avoidable source of C. botulinum spores, and it therefore should not be fed to infants.

I'm sorry about the wordiness of this long citation, but we as responsible honey producers should never encourage our customers to use honey in an unsafe manner, and feeding it to infants is such a practice, as the above abstract indicates.

Ted Fischer
Dexter, Michigan USA

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