Hi All

Tom said:

> It is my understanding that normal healthy infants are not impacted by 
> oral intake of the spores.

Not too sure about that - it seems that the second month of life is the most risky time, probably due to the lack of protection from normal gut intestinal flora.

http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/129/3/221

That review also quotes references to back up this statement:
'The source of ingestion is unknown in approximately 85% of cases; in up to 15% of cases, the ingestion of honey is suspected [49, 50].' 

Peter B wrote a few days back:
> However, so far as I know, the link between honey and infant botulism has never been proved

More references implicating honey in infant botulism are given in this book chapter:

http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ps/dcdc/InfantBot/ibchap2-1.htm

Stephen S. Arnon, M.D. (1998) A chapter for inclusion in the Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Disease, fourth edition.  Ralph D. Feigin and James D. Cherry, editors.  W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, 1998

[snip]
Honey is the one dietary reservoir of C. botulinum spores thus far definitively linked to infant botulism by both laboratory and epidemiologic evidence.6,10,30,33,37,43,45,58,69 To date, 32 instances worldwide are known in which C. botulinum spores have been found in the actual honey fed to the affected infant before onset of illness. In each instance, the toxin type (A or B) of the spores in the honey matched the toxin type (A or B) of the C. botulinum that caused the infant's illness; the probability that such perfect concordance occurred by chance is less than 1 in 1 billion. C. botulinum spores have been found in honeys originating in the United States, Canada, Australia, China (Taiwan), Japan, and Central America,30,33,37,43,45,58,69 but not in honeys from the United Kingdom.13 For these reasons and because honey is nutritionally nonessential, all major pediatric, public health, and honey industry agencies in the United States have joined in the
 recommendation that honey should not be fed to infants (see references in Arnon and colleagues' study6). 

hope that helps (but don't take from that a message that UK honey is safe for infants!)

Gavin

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