Friday, August 31, 2007

Only 15 Percent of Infant Botulism Cases Attributed to Honey

A Sickening Situation
By Martha Bonnie, Emergency Medical Services, September 2007

Foodborne illnesses in the United States are quite common. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), foodborne microorganisms cause 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations and over 5,000 deaths each year...

Common culprits have been tracked and researched by the American Medical Association, as well as governmental agencies…

Botulism

Botulism, a bacterial infection, can be fatal for infants and adults. Botulism is sometimes associated with infants who have consumed honey, which can contain spores of Clostridium botulinum even after processing; however, according to recent research, only 15% of infant botulism cases can be attributed to honey. The remaining 85% have unknown causes. Botulism spores are widespread but are not seen in fresh foods. Most botulism comes from home-canned foods produced in an anaerobic environment (without oxygen), where the contaminated spores can reproduce…

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You said: according to recent research, only 15% of infant botulism cases can be attributed to honey. I have never seen any proof that honey caused infant botulism. Can you provide a source?

Peter

Unknown said...

Me also Ihave never seen any proof that honey caused infant botulism. You may have a look on the article" Not giving honey to infants: a recommendation that should be reevaluated" in the Journal of american apitherapy society(volume 12, number 2, june 2005). You cannot prove that honey is responsible for infant botulism because the organisms are widely found in nature including even air. To my opinion we should not prevent giving honey to infants. The benificial effects of honey outweigh this possible risk.

Mamdouh Abdulrhman

Unknown said...

Ihave never also seen any proof that honey caused infant botulism. The organisms are widely found in nature including even air. To my openion the benificial effects of honey particularly the immunostimulant effcts outweigh this possible risk. You may have a look on the article" Not giving honey to infants: a recommendation that should be reevaluated" in the Joual of The American Apitherapy Society volume 12 number 2 June 2005.

mamdouh

Unknown said...

I have never also seen any proof that honey caused infant botulism. The organism is widely found in nature including even air. To my openion the benefical effects of honey specially the immunostimulat effects outweigh this possible risk. You may read the article " Not giving honey to infants : a recommendation that should be reevaluated " in the Journal of The American Apitherapy Society. Volume 12 number 2 June 2005.

Mamdouh

Phyllis E said...

Proof has existed for many years. If you are interested, you can find this article (published in 1979) on-line at www.asmusa.org (go to the publications link) or at your local university library. The main author is T.F. Midura. The article is published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, volume 9, issue 2, pages 282-283.

For my comments on infant botulism and honey, please check the following link:
http://efoodalert.blogspot.com/2007/12/honey-of-dilemma.html