Clostridium baratii

Clostridium baratii is an anaerobic, motile, gram-positive bacterium. It is a rare cause of infant botulism, in which newborns or infants lose their muscle tone, and develop trouble feeding due to a difficulty in breathing, which can be fatal. Newborns can recover spontaneously or as in two known cases improve with injected botulism antitoxin. As of 2015, the environmental source of this bacterium is unknown, despite extensive investigations when cases have occurred. It is named after Barat who is a French bacteriologist. The diagnosis must be suspected based on the constellation of symptoms. Clostridium baratii infection is proven when it is grown on a petri dish and isolated from a stool culture. This takes a minimum of 48 hours and more, because the bacterium needs to grow in the absence of oxygen, that is under anaerobic conditions.