Multistate Infant Botulism Outbreak Linked to Powdered Infant Formula — United States, 2025
- Presentation Day/Time: Tuesday, April 21, 2:15 PM
- Presenter: Katie Lee, PhD, EIS officer assigned to the California Department of Public Health, Division of Communicable Disease Control
The Issue
- In 2025, the California Department of Public Health's Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program (IBTPP) noted a cluster of treated infant botulism (IB) patients reporting exposure to a particular brand of powdered infant formula (PIF).
What We Did
- IBTPP, CDC, State and Local Health Departments, and FDA investigated to identify the source and prevent further disease.
What We Found
- Epidemiologic and laboratory evidence suggest that consumption of the particular brand of PIF resulted in multiple cases of IB, causing the first known IB outbreak associated with PIF in the United States.
What This Means
- IBTPP conducts national surveillance for IB through distribution of the only U.S.-approved IB treatment, BIG-IV. Surveillance of these treatment distributions helped public health officials identify and respond to novel exposures causing IB.
