Plagues, Pestilences
and Diseases
Dec 28, 2011
Oklahoma infant is 3rd Midwestern child hit by rare bacteria
By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
An Oklahoma infant is the third Midwestern child to be sickened by
a rare Cronobacter sakazakii infection in recent weeks. Federal
officials said today they have not found anything to link the
cases, one of which was fatal.
The bacteria, which can cause meningitis-like symptoms in
newborns, is "ubiquitous in the environment," says Barbara
Reynolds, a spokeswoman with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta.
The infection killed 10-day-old Avery Cornett of Lebanon, Mo., on
Dec. 18. She was to be buried today, The Lebanon Daily Record
says.
After that case was reported, Illinois officials said an infant in
that state, who was visiting Missouri, was sickened by the
bacteria in early December but recovered after being treated in a
Missouri hospital.
Information about a third case, a Tulsa County, Okla., infant who
also got sick in early December but recovered, came out Wednesday,
Reynolds says.
There have been previous outbreaks of the disease linked to
contaminated infant formula and the possible link caused some
chains to pull Enfamil Newborn powder, which Cornett had been fed.
But tests have found no contamination of the formula, the
manufacturer, Mead Johnson Nutrition, said in a news release.
"The investigation means that public health officials in each a
state are gathering information about each infant, including what
they ate and where they had been. The bacteria that made them sick
are going to be compared in a CDC laboratory to see how
genetically similar they are - the initial results may be
available by the end of next week at the soonest. We are also
alerting public health officials around the country to look for
other cases of Cronobacter infection. If we hear about more, those
will be investigated as well," says Robert Tauxe, deputy director
of CDC's Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental
Diseases.
"It is not established that infant formula was the source of
either infection. It appears that each infant was on several
formulas, those details are part of the ongoing investigation in
each state," he says.
CDC hears about six cases of cronobacter sakazakii each year, but
because it is not a reportable disease there are no exact figures.
This year, the CDC has received reports of 10 cases. Information
on where those cases occurred and the ages of the victims was not
available late Wednesday.
"This does not appear to be a cluster," Reynolds says. "At this
point in the investigation, there's nothing that indicates there's
a link in the cases."
Samples of infant formula are being collected and tested by state
and CDC labs, Tauxe says. These include packages that are already
open, leftover formula and environmental samples. The Food and
Drug Administration is also testing the unopened packages of
formula and looking into where the formulas were manufactured, he
says. Some of the tests can take up to a month so immediate
answers are not available, Tauxe said.
State and CDC officials caution that powdered infant formula is
not sterile and that it should not be allowed to stand after being
reconstituted for more than two hours without refrigeration.