CA Health & Safety Code Section 123704

The Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Unit shall provide all the following services:

(a)

Produce, or cause to have produced, and maintain, a supply of BIG sufficient to treat the expected number of annual cases of infant botulism in the United States, and to store, or arrange storage for, same.

(b)

Distribute BIG to patients suspected of having infant botulism or other forms of botulism in California and in the rest of the United States on appropriate medical indications.

(c)

Investigate ways to improve the treatment of infant botulism and related illness, including technical improvement of BIG, and implement them as appropriate.

(d)

Provide diagnostic laboratory services and medical and public health expertise about infant botulism and related illnesses to all physicians, hospitals, laboratories, and parents statewide.

(e)

Investigate all cases or suspected cases of infant botulism with both field and laboratory techniques as appropriate, in order to acquire the broadest data base for prevention and optimal treatment.

(f)

Develop and implement control measures for the prevention of infant botulism and related illnesses.

(g)

Share with other public health agencies the expertise gained in the development of BIG as it relates to other toxin-mediated infectious diseases of public health importance, and apply that expertise as appropriate.

(h)

Establish scientific collaborations with university, forensic, hospital, public health, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology institutions, as appropriate as determined by the unit, that have resources and expertise to contribute to the study, prevention, or treatment of infant botulism and related illnesses.