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ATLANTA (AP) — A rare outbreak of infant botulism that sickened dozens of babies who drank recalled ByHeart formula is over, with no new cases reported since mid-December, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
In all, 48 babies were sickened since 2023. That’s actually down from the previous case count, because three infants were ultimately diagnosed with other illnesses not tied to botulism, health officials said.
All of the children who got sick were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.
It’s still unclear exactly how, when or where the organic, whole-milk powdered baby formula became contaminated with the type of bacteria that can cause serious illness, paralysis and death in children younger than 1, health officials added.
Most of the cases had occurred since August, when officials at California’s Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention program detected an alarming rise in reports of the illness in babies who consumed ByHeart formula.
ByHeart, based in New York, initially recalled two lots of formula in early November, but the company expanded the recall to all products days later. Federal health officials later said they could not rule out contamination of products made since the company first launched in March 2022. Stores nationwide Read Entire Article
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