A 12-year-old girl has passed away and seven other children have been taken to hospital due to a serious food poisoning outbreak, centered around a town in northern France.
On June 12th, symptoms began to appear in and around San Kenting, south of Lille, and the children rushed to the hospital the following day.
Children aged 1-12 years are not thought to be mixed in the same group, so the cause of the outbreak has not been identified yet.
According to a local county in the AISNE area, the girl died on Monday in a rare condition called hemolytic urinary syndrome (HUS), which is associated with acute renal failure. The most common cause of infection is E. coli bacteria.
The latest incident was reported Wednesday evening, France and the French Regional Health Bureau said.
All eight children were admitted to hospitals with severe digestive symptoms, including bloody diarrhea, five of which developed HUS, authorities said.
Health officials are conducting biological analyses to identify the bacterial strains involved in each case.
They said there were no signs that the kids had eaten together and ruled out issues with local tap water.
Infectious diseases (HUS) are mostly caused by E. Coli’s food poisoning, authorities said. However, the origin of the contamination has proven difficult to find, as the families involved sourced food from various locations.
Food inspectors were investigating whether contaminated meat was behind the outbreak. Several butchers in San Quentin were closed on Thursday, reported by local news outlet L’Aisne Nouvelle.
One butcher said his meat, marinade and spices were all taken away to be checked.
Parents are wary and are told to ensure strict hygiene at home, and authorities recommend regular hand washing, cleaning fruit and vegetables, thoroughly cooking meat, and separating raw and cooked food.
