San Antonio baby battling rare infant botulism

SAN ANTONIO - A baby is recovering at North Central Baptist Hospital after contracting an extremely rare illness.

There are only about 7 cases year of infant botulism in the state of Texas each year but it can be a killer.

Kelly and Carter Hudspeth knew something was very wrong with their 5-month-old baby girl Anabelle.

She was constipated, lethargic and couldn’t keep here eye’s open.

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“We did an MRI, we did an EEG of her head, heart studies, they did a spinal tap to make sure it wasn’t meningitis,” Kelly Hudspeth said.

Even after those tests doctors couldn’t figure it out. Anabelle got worse.

"On Friday, before we figured out what it was, she had coded and they had to resuscitate her and intubate her, and it was just really scary going through all this and seeing our baby pretty much in a coma," Kelly Hudspeth said.

After reviewing her symptoms, doctors discovered Anabelle had infant botulism.

A rare and potentially fatal illness caused by a toxins made by bacteria.

Doctors gave her an anti-toxin and Anabelle began to recover.

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Dr. Pedro Chavez made the diagnosis and has treated infant botulism a few times in his career.

He says the most common place babies get the disease is from honey.

"The spores in the bacterium can drop in the honey and when they ingest it, it breaks down in your stomach and liberates the toxin," Chavez said.

The bacteria can also from contaminated preserves and jams or from dust kicked up into the air.

It could take several months or even as long as a year of rehab for Anabelle to bounce back from the illness.

The family set up a GoFundMe account to help with medical expenses.