Doctors amputate toddler's arms and legs after he falls ill with mystery illness

A toddler had both his arms and legs amputated after a mystery infection spread quickly throughout his body.

Jeremiah Cox from Indiana, USA came down with a fever in late September, but things spiralled out of control after doctors diagnosed him with sepsis - an infection of his blood. 

After coming down with a temperature Jeremiah seemed to be on the mend and had been happily playing in the park when bruise-like blotches appeared over his entire body.

He was taken to hospital and doctors realised he was suffering from sepsis and his body was at risk of shutting down.

In a bid to save his life doctors were forced to amputate all four of his limbs.

According to CBS News, when Jeremiah's body went into septic shock his blood pressure dropped dangerously low, which caused his blood to stop flowing to his limbs.

The boy's extremities started to die and shut down and doctors were worried that the infection would keep spreading and eventually kill him. 

'Just to watch your child lay there and watch everything die, and then basically watching your son die in front of you -- it's crazy," said Jeremiah's mum, Ashley Cox.

After they operated, doctors gave Jeremiah an antibiotic to help kill the infection. But to this day, they don't know how the toddler contracted it. 

Now, he will undergo months of intensive rehabilitation in a bid to learn to crawl, eat, and hopefully use prosthetics.

At the time of Jeremiah's sudden illness his mum was pregnant with her fourth child and actually gave birth while Jeremiah was fighting for his life. 

Doctors have told Jeremiah’s parents they may never know the cause of his life-threatening illness.