Health
CDC investigating fake Botox injections: ‘Serious and sometimes fatal’
Fake Botox is on the CDC’s radar.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday that it is investigating reports of “a few botulism-like illnesses in several states resulting from botulinum toxin injections (commonly called ‘Botox’) administered in non-medical settings,” the agency said in a statement.
“We are coordinating a multi-state outbreak investigation,” the agency added.
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Illnesses have been reported to the Tennessee and Illinois health departments, which are working with the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the investigation, the CDC noted.
The CDC said it is investigating reports of “a few botulism-like illnesses in several states resulting from botulinum toxin injections (commonly called ‘Botox’) administered in non-medical settings,” the agency said in a statement. (REUTERS/Tami Chappell)
In Tennessee, four patients sought medical care after experiencing “botulism-like signs and symptoms” after receiving Botox injections for cosmetic purposes, according to an online statement from the Tennessee Department of Health.
Two of the patients were hospitalized.
“Do not go to an unlicensed provider. If the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
“Joint investigations have identified concerns about use of counterfeit products or products with unclear origin administered in non-medical settings such as homes or cosmetic spas,” the statement said.
The Illinois Department of Public Health issued a similar statement after two patients reported receiving potentially counterfeit Botox injections in LaSalle County.
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The two individuals reported symptoms that included blurred/double vision, droopy face, fatigue, difficulty breathing, shortness of breath and hoarse voice, the statement said.
The patients, both of whom were hospitalized, received the injections from a licensed nurse who was “performing work outside her authority.”
Botulism is a “serious and sometimes fatal” illness that occurs when a toxin attacks the body’s nerves, according to the CDC. (iStock)
Additional cases have been reported in Kentucky, Washington and Colorado.
“The sources of these botulinum toxin products are unknown or unverified at this time,” the CDC stated.
“Questions about product regulation and product investigation should be directed to the FDA.”
What is botulism?
Botulism is a “serious and sometimes fatal” illness that occurs when a toxin attacks the body’s nerves, according to the CDC.
Initial symptoms usually include muscle weakness around the eyes, face, mouth and throat, which could also spread to the neck, arms, torso and legs.
“If the wrong patient begins having trouble with their breathing, it could be fatal.”
Other symptoms can include blurred or double vision, difficulty breathing, trouble swallowing, drooping eyelids, slurred speech and difficulty moving the eyes.
“What’s particularly concerning are the respiratory problems that some are experiencing,” Dr. Salar Hazany, a certified dermatologist and reconstructive surgeon at Scar Healing Institute in Beverly Hills, told Fox News Digital.
“If the wrong patient begins having trouble with their breathing, it could be fatal.”
Botox is made from a specific type of Clostridium botulinum, a bacteria that produces paralysis in the muscles where it is injected. (iStock)
Dr. Craig Lehrman, director of aesthetic surgery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, noted that fake Botox has been an issue since the early 2000s.
“Unfortunately, I treat several patients a year who have received non-approved injectables of things they are told to be safe, which ends up having serious consequences,” he told Fox News Digital.
“It has mostly been linked to injections in settings such as someone’s home or a poorly regulated med spa.”
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Botox is made from a specific type of Clostridium botulinum, a bacteria that produces paralysis in the muscles where it is injected, he said.
“The people receiving the presumed counterfeit Botox are suffering from an illness that is similar to botulism, caused by the same bacteria,” he said.
There are strict safety criteria for the use and storage of Botox, and serious risks come with the injection of fraudulent or poorly managed products, an expert warned. (iStock)
There are strict safety criteria for the use and storage of Botox, and serious risks come with the injection of fraudulent or poorly managed products, Lehrman warned.
“Botulism can carry detrimental effects ranging from infection, to permanent deformity, to serious wound formation.”
Tips for safe Botox use
“Cosmetic injections should be an FDA-approved product, administered by licensed providers and in licensed settings,” the CDC stated.
There has been a large increase in the number of people offering these services who are not board-certified in the fields of plastic surgery, dermatology or ENT, according to Lehrman.
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“I would advise potential patients to do their research on the person who will be injecting them — and not just search for the cheapest option,” he said.
“I would recommend going to a center that has rigorous standards of education and a track record of safety.”
In most cases, Botox injections are safe, according to experts.
Anyone who experiences botulism-like symptoms following an injection should seek medical attention, according to health officials. (iStock)
“Laboratory-confirmed cases of systemic botulism occurring after cosmetic or therapeutic injections of botulinum toxin are rare,” the CDC said in its statement.
Millions of injections are performed each year by licensed medical providers and have been shown to be safe when done in the correct manner, Lehrman added.
“Those considering Botox should research the background of the provider and make sure that the practice has not racked up a number of complaints,” added Hazany.
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“Do not go to an unlicensed provider. If the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Anyone who experiences botulism-like symptoms following an injection should seek medical attention, according to health officials.
Fox News Digital reached out to Abbvie (manufacturer of Botox), the FDA, the Tennessee Department of Public Health, and the Illinois Department of Public Health requesting comment.
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health.
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One woman’s uncomfortable reaction to alcohol led to a grave discovery.
Hollie Thursby, 28, a mother of two from the U.K., told Kennedy News and Media that after giving birth to her second son, Jack, she began experiencing unusual symptoms.
At a checkup for her son, who was a couple of months old, Thursby mentioned that she was experiencing “unbearably itchy skin,” which is known to be a post-partum symptom. The doctor suggested it was due to changing hormones.
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Thursby added that she occasionally drank a couple glasses of wine. Although she kept the drinking to a minimum, she described having “a lot of pain” down the side of her neck.
“Really quite painful and uncomfortable,” she said, according to the report.
A U.K. mom reported experiencing pain in her neck after drinking a glass or two of wine, which turned out to be one of the first signs that she had cancer. (Kennedy News and Media)
The mother also reported feeling extremely exhausted, which she assumed was due to caring for her children throughout the day.
“I also felt like when I got to bed that someone was sitting on my chest,” she shared.
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In July 2025, Thursby discovered a lump on the side of her neck that she described as “really quite big,” but wasn’t painful, Kennedy News and Media reported.
“It was hard, it didn’t move, but it was there,” she said. “When I turned my neck to the side, you could see it.”
Thursby reportedly began chemotherapy for Stage 2 Hodgkins lymphoma. (Kennedy News and Media)
Thursby’s symptoms turned out to be a form of blood cancer — Stage 2 Hodgkins lymphoma, which means it is in two or more lymph nodes, according to Cancer Research U.K.
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Common symptoms include swelling of the lymph nodes, heavy sweating, weight loss, itching, persistent cough or shortness of breath, high temperatures, and pain in the stomach or lymph nodes after drinking alcohol.
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“Pain when you drink alcohol is actually a known side effect of Hodgkin lymphoma,” she said, per the report. “It’s something about the acidity in the wine and not when you drink other alcohol.”
While alcohol-related pain in Hodgkins lymphoma patients has been “an accepted scientific consensus” since the 1950s, cases are rare, Healthline confirmed.
Hollie Thursby, 28, and her two sons are pictured above. The mother reported feeling extremely exhausted, which she assumed was due to caring for her children throughout the day. (Kennedy News and Media)
Thursby reportedly began chemotherapy in November, noting that the hardest part is not being able to care for her kids after losing her own mother to a blood disorder called myelodysplasia.
“I grew up without a mum, and it was horrendous. I can’t do that to the boys,” she told Kennedy News and Media. “We’re all devastated, but we all know now, and we’ve got a treatment plan, which is what we need.”
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“I’m just doing everything I can to get better for them. I keep telling myself this is only temporary, I just need to keep going.”
Anyone experiencing pain or other concerning symptoms after consuming alcohol should consult a doctor for guidance.
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Red light therapy has been shown to reduce brain inflammation, protecting people who experience head trauma from long-term health consequences, a University of Utah study has shown.
Brain damage from repeated impact over the years is known to cause cognitive symptoms, ranging from memory issues to full-blown dementia, particularly affecting soldiers and athletes.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive, degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head impacts rather than a single injury, according to Mayo Clinic.
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More than 100 former NFL football players have been posthumously diagnosed with CTE, according to the new study, which was published in the Journal of Neurotrauma.
Other research has shown that military personnel in active combat suffer from similar issues, as do first responders and veterans.
The treatment was administered three times a week for 20 minutes using specialized headsets and intranasal devices designed to penetrate the skull. (iStock)
In the new study, the researchers recruited 26 current football players to understand more about the impact of red-light therapy on brain injuries.
The participants received either red light therapy delivered by a light-emitting headset and a device that clips into the nose, or a placebo treatment with an identical device that doesn’t produce light. Players self-administered the therapy three times a week, 20 minutes each time, for 16 weeks.
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“My first reaction was, ‘There’s no way this can be real,’” said first author Hannah Lindsey, Ph.D., in the university press release. “That’s how striking it was.”
Specific wavelengths of light are believed to enter the brain and reduce molecules that trigger inflammation, potentially halting the path toward dementia and other cognitive conditions. (iStock)
Players using the placebo treatment experienced increased brain inflammation over the course of the season. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans taken at the end of the season showed significantly more signs of inflammation than at the beginning of the season, the study found.
For players who used red-light therapy during the season, their brain inflammation didn’t increase at all.
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Previous studies have shown that red light, if powerful enough, can penetrate the skull and reach the brain, where it may reduce inflammation-related molecules.
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“When we first started this project, I was extremely skeptical,” said Elisabeth Wilde, Ph.D., the senior author on the study. “But we’ve seen consistent results across multiple of our studies, so it’s starting to be quite compelling.”
Study limitations
The study was conducted using a small sample size, which led to different levels of inflammation in the treatment and control groups, the researchers acknowledged.
While the placebo group showed increased brain inflammation during the football season, those receiving red light therapy showed no increase in inflammatory markers. (iStock)
Future large randomized clinical trials will be “crucial to back up the results” in larger populations, they noted.
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“We’ve been trying to figure out how to make sports safer, so that our kids, friends and family can participate in sports safely for the long term while they’re involved in activities that give them happiness and joy,” Carrie Esopenko, Ph.D., second author of the study, said in the release.
“And this really feels like part of the hope for protecting the brain that we’ve been searching for.”
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The team plans to recruit 300 people with persistent symptoms from TBI or concussion for a randomized controlled trial in 2026, with a focus on first responders, veterans and active-duty service members.
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Drinking heavily and consistently over an adult’s lifetime could lead to a higher risk of colorectal cancer, according to a study published in the journal Cancer by the American Cancer Society (ACS).
The study analyzed 20 years of data from more than 88,000 U.S. adults to determine how long-term drinking impacted the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) or precancerous colorectal adenomas (polyps).
The participants reported their average weekly intake of beer, wine and liquor intake during four age periods — 18 to 24, 25 to 39, 40 to 54, and 55 and older.
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“Heavy drinkers” were identified as having more than 14 drinks per week and “moderate drinkers” had between seven and 14 drinks per week.
The observational research revealed that consistent heavy drinking over adulthood was linked to a higher risk of colorectal cancer, especially rectal cancer.
Researchers found a major association between colorectal cancer diagnosis and heavy lifetime drinking. (iStock)
Heavy lifetime drinking was associated with a 25% higher overall CRC risk and nearly double the risk of rectal cancer. Moderate lifetime drinking had a lower overall CRC risk.
Compared to light drinkers, the consistently heavy drinkers had about a 91% higher risk of CRC.
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For colorectal adenomas (precancerous polyps), higher current lifetime drinking did not show a strong pattern, although former drinkers showed a significantly lower risk of non-advanced adenoma compared to current light drinkers.
Out of the 88,092 participants, 1,679 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
Out of the 88,092 participants in the study, 1,679 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. (iStock)
The authors noted that the research was limited, as it was observational and not based on a clinical trial. It also hinged on self-reported alcohol use.
The findings suggest that consistently heavy alcohol intake and higher average lifetime consumption “may increase CRC risk, whereas cessation may lower adenoma risk,” the researchers stated. Associations “may differ by tumor site,” they added.
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The link between drinking alcohol and cancer is not a new discovery, according to health experts.
In a recent episode of the podcast “The Dr. Mark Hyman Show,” Dr. Mark Hyman, chief medical officer of Function Health in California, detailed how even moderate drinking can impact “nearly every organ system in the body,” due to metabolic stress, inflammation, impaired detoxification and its effect on hormones.
The link between drinking alcohol and cancer is not a new discovery, according to health experts. (iStock)
Drinking has been found to increase the risk of many cancers, metabolic dysfunction, gut microbiome disturbances and mitochondrial toxins, Hyman said.
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“Bottom line, alcohol taxes every major system in your body, especially your liver, your brain, your gut, your hormones,” he warned.
Reducing or eliminating alcohol can lower the risk of several cancers, according to medical experts. (Getty Images)
In a previous interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Pinchieh Chiang, a clinician at Circle Medical in San Francisco, shared that taking a break from drinking alcohol for longer periods of time can “reshape health more profoundly.”
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“Over months to a year, we see sustained improvements in blood pressure, liver function and inflammation,” she said. “Those changes directly affect long-term heart disease and stroke risk.”
Chiang added, “Reducing or eliminating alcohol lowers the risk of several cancers, including breast and colorectal, over time.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the study researchers for comment.
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