The Food and Drug Administration and the Texas Department of Health recently issued health alerts after four infants were hospitalized with botulism after using pacifiers containing honey.

While essentially rare worldwide, ninety percent of the world's cases of infant botulism are diagnosed in the United States, mainly because of physician awareness.

So what is infant botulism and why should infants avoid honey?

Joining me to answer these questions and more is Amesh Adalja, MD. Dr Adalja is a Senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an infectious disease expert.