An outbreak here in the U.S. of infant botulism, a rare but serious illness caused by toxins that attack the nervous system, is causing alarm among regulators and parents, prompting an investigation and a nationwide recall of by heart whole nutrition infant formula.

Stephanie Sye has more.

According to the Food and Drug Administration,

there have been 15 hospitalizations of infants across 12 states. No deaths have been reported.

Hannah Everett, a mother in Kentucky, experienced this firsthand. Her four-month-old Piper

was hospitalized over the weekend.

We seen the recall.

And, you know, I just in my gut, I was like, yeah, we need to take her.

Her gag reflex was not intact.

It's like it becomes paralyzed.

She's going to make a full recovery.

They said we just got very lucky to catch it as early as we did. For a closer look, I'm joined by Helena Bodmiller-Evich.

She's the founder of Food Fix, a publication that covers food policy in-depth.

Helena, thank you for joining the news hour.

First of all, how sick are babies who have gotten infant botulism linked to this baby formula

getting? Well, 15 hospitalizations

is something that is very concerning. We have not seen botulism tied to infant formula in this

country. We've certainly not seen an outbreak. These babies are requiring a lot of intervention

at the hospital. The key is to catch it early.

So any signs of poor feeding, difficulty swallowing, loss of head control, you know, if your baby

has had this formula and seems off, you should talk to your doctor as soon as possible.

Last week, California's Department of Health identified botulism in preliminary testing of an

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