Clostridium botulinum causes infant and adult intestinal botulism by colonizing in the intestine and producing botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT). Antimicrobial agents are not currently used for treatment due to the potential facilitation of BoNT production and bacterial cell lysis, which releases toxins into the intestinal lumen. In this study, we analyzed effects of four antibiotics on the viability of and BoNT production by four C. botulinum group I strains. Our results indicate that metronidazole rapidly reduced their viability without enhancing BoNT production. Antibiotics with these properties may promote elimination of C. botulinum from the intestines while maintaining low levels of BoNT.

中文翻译：

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抗生素对肉毒梭菌活力和毒素产生的影响

肉毒梭菌通过在肠道定植并产生肉毒杆菌神经毒素 (BoNT) 来引起婴儿和成人肠道肉毒中毒。由于可能会促进 BoNT 的产生和细菌细胞裂解，从而将毒素释放到肠腔中，因此目前不使用抗微生物剂进行治疗。在这项研究中，我们分析了四种抗生素对四种肉毒杆菌I 组菌株的活力和 BoNT 产生的影响。我们的结果表明，甲硝唑迅速降低了它们的生存能力，而没有增加 BoNT 的产生。具有这些特性的抗生素可以促进从肠道中消除肉毒杆菌，同时保持低水平的 BoNT。