00:00An entire line of organic baby formula is being recalled due to serious health risks.
00:06Byhar, a manufacturer of the formula you see right here on your screen,
00:09has recalled all of its products sold nationwide.
00:12This, after at least 15 babies have become sick from an outbreak of infant botulism,
00:17which experts warn can cause paralysis in kids under one.
00:21NBC News health reporter Arya Bendix is following this all for us.
00:25Arya, we're talking about, you know, itty-bitty babies here.
00:27We know that all of these infants were hospitalized after consuming this particular formula.
00:32What exactly is infant botulism?
00:35Right. So this is a very serious, potentially fatal bacterial illness.
00:40It's caused by a toxin that actually attacks the nerves.
00:43So infants may experience muscle weakness or trouble breathing.
00:47Parents are really going to want to look out for things like droopy eyelids,
00:51trouble swallowing, loss of head control, or even a lack of facial expression.
00:56And if a child is having those symptoms and uses this formula,
00:59they're going to want to take them to the emergency room right away.
01:02Now, the good news here is that survival rates are really good.
01:05Most infants will make a full recovery,
01:07but you do not want to delay that care if your child is having symptoms, Morgan.
01:12When you think about sort of how this ties to what we've seen historically with formula shortages,
01:18could this have an impact there?
01:20I mean, has the company sort of responded to any of that?
01:22Right. So the company right now is conducting a comprehensive investigation.
01:26It's allowing the FDA to come in and test unopened cans of its formula.
01:30But as you mentioned, in past outbreaks,
01:32it's been really difficult to link a specific brand or product with a specific bacterial outbreak.
01:37In this case, however, we don't expect any formula shortages.
01:41You may remember that big recall in 2022 of infant formula that led to this nationwide shortage.
01:47That's not really the case here, because by heart, the company,
01:51its product makes up less than 1% of all infant formula sold in the U.S.
01:55So that's one silver lining here in this very, very scary scenario, Morgan.
01:59Absolutely. Aria Bendix for us. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.
02:02We.
