MORGANTOWN – During Thursday’s meeting of the Monongalia County Board of Health, County Health Officer Dr. Brian Huggins said 46 stores in West Virginia have sold canisters of the ByHeart Whole Nutrition Infant Formula recently tied to a national outbreak of infant botulism.
The Monongalia County Health Department is spreading the word that one canister of the recalled formula was sold at the Sabraton Kroger location.
“We checked with all the pantry-pluses, because that was important to see if they had gotten any of this formula, and they had not. So, it looks like in our area, there may have only been one container of it,” he said. “We’re also reaching out to the hospitals to remind them of what botulism looks like.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31 infants in 15 states have been identified with suspected or confirmed cases of infant botulism as of Nov. 19. In those cases, illness started between Aug. 9 and Nov. 13.
All 31 infants were hospitalized and no deaths have been reported.
To date, there have been no cases reported in West Virginia.
States reporting illness are: Texas (6), California (4), Arizona (3), Oregon (3), Illinois (2), Washington (2), Minnesota (2), North Carolina (2), Kentucky (1), Maine (1), Michigan (1), New Jersey (1), Pennsylvania (1), Rhode Island (1), Idaho (1).
Infant botulism is a rare but potentially fatal illness that results in the production of neurotoxins in the immature gut of infants.
Affected infants can present with some or all of the following signs and symptoms: Constipation, poor feeding, drooping eyelid, sluggish pupils, low muscle tone, difficulty sucking and swallowing, weak or altered cry, generalized weakness, respiratory difficulty and respiratory arrest.
ByHeart Inc. has voluntarily recalled all ByHeart Whole Nutrition Infant Formula cans and single-serve packets nationwide.
In other public health news, Huggins reported that the flu shot currently being offered is a “mismatch” for what is emerging as this season’s dominant flu strain, meaning vaccination may not prevent illness.
“But it doesn’t mean people shouldn’t get their flu shot, and I want to stress that,” Huggins said. “There’s still circulating strains that are in the flu shot. It just means that if you get the flu shot, there’s still a significant chance, because it is the most common strain that is circulating right now that’s not covered by the flu shot.”
According to media reports, the emergent strain is a mutation of the common H3N2 strain called “subclade K.” The variant has already led to a surge in flu cases in the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan.
Huggins said he doesn’t believe there will be an updated vaccine offered this year.
“It’s been asked if they’re going to send out an update, and the answer is no. It’s too far into the season now for them to develop, especially with the new constraints that have been put on vaccines by the federal government. There just isn’t going to be an update this year,” he said.
Lastly, the doctor said cases of pertussis or “whooping cough” are rising, even for those within the 10-year window that has historically been recognized as the coverage duration of the DTAP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) vaccine.
“What they’re finding is that of the cases of pertussis that we’ve had in West Virginia, a significant portion of them have been vaccinated within the time period that we recommend. So, that just means that the vaccine is degrading in the body. You’re losing antibodies faster than we previously expected. So I think that will drive some research,” he said. “It goes hand-in-hand with the fact that less people overall are getting vaccinated. But there is a huge pertussis outbreak in the country.”
