Elisheva wrotew:
<<<Is there a study that backs up this strong statement?   I would be glad to
know if there is, as it would increase my confidence in throwing around this
almost blanket statement ("always dies...usually survives.")>>>

yes, you are rigth. I wrote it out of my head (having a nursing child in my
arms, so that moment it wasn't easy to look it up) , and as usual, when I
looked it up the statement was a bit different. I do quote:

McKenna end Bernshaw, Breastfeeding and Infant Parent Co-Sleeping, in: Stuart-
Macadam and Dettwyler, Breastfeeding: biocultural perspectives, 1995, ISBN
0-202-01192-5. pp.265 - 303.

"Infant botulism is an infectious disease that, according to Arnon (1983),
can sometimes masquerade as SIDS. It reslts when the ingested spores of the
bacterium Clostridium botulinum germinate, multiply, and produce their
toxin in the baby's intestine (see Arnon, 1983:539). The toxin, one of the
most potent poisons known, can be carried anteriorly to motor nerve
endings, causing irreversible repiratory muscle paralysis and death,
strikingly rembling SIDS deaths. The age distribution of infant botulism
also matches closely that of SIDS. It is estimated that 5% of SIDS cases
may be attributed to infant botulism (Arnon, 1984). ...[...]... (a
paragraph about passing antibodies from the mother to the baby via
breastmilk)...  The toxicity of the botulism toxin is so great that it is
estimated that as few as 10 to 100 spores may be sufficient to infect an
infant (Arnon, 1986). This together with the variable IgA titers in milk,
make it conceivable that a single exposure to a foreign antigen (e.g. a
drop of Clostridium-containing honey) could seriously compromise the health
of infants breastfed to various degress. The relative protective property
of human milk against sudden death from infant botulism is illustrated by
the fact that "all 10 SIDS positive at autopsy for C. botulinum occured in
infants who had been formula-fed, whereas 50 hospitalized patients were
primarily (but not exclusively - authors emphasisis) breast-fed" (Arnon,
1984). This deserves emphasis: all dead infants were artificially fed; all
surviving infants were breastfed. " pp. 274-275.

Arnon, S.S.
1983 -  Breast-feeding and toxigenic intestinal infections: Missing links
in SIDS. In Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, edited by T.T.Tildon, L.M.Roeder,
anfd A. Steinschneider, pp.539-556. New York: Academic Press.
1984 - Breast feeding and toxigenis intestinal infections: Missing links in
crib death. Reviews of Infectious Diseases 6 (Suppl. 1):S193-S201.
1986 - Infant botulism: Anticipating the second decade. Journal of
Infectious Disease 154:201-206.

I hope this clarifies ....


Annelies Bon         http://utopia.knoware.nl/users/abon/bfbronnen.html
breastfeeding counsellor of the Dutch bf org "Borstvoeding Natuurlijk"
mailto:[log in to unmask]
living in a small city, Almere, near Amsterdam, The Netherlands