2023-09-13 13:52:26
“Potentially 25 people would have consumed these jars,” indicates Thierry Touzet, deputy director of the departmental directorate for population protection (DDPP) of Gironde. These artisanal preserved sardines, made by the Bordeaux establishment Tchin Tchin Wine bar, are singled out after a total of twelve cases suggestive of food botulism one of which has just led to the death of a 32-year-old patient in Île-de-France. At this stage, ten cases have been recorded in France and two abroad – in Spain and Germany – but which relate to the Bordeaux source of poisoning.
When the thirty-year-old presented herself at the Bordeaux University Hospital, she had “non-specific signs” specifies Benjamin Clouzeau, resuscitation doctor and head of department at the intensive care medicine (MIR) department at Bordeaux University Hospital. It was at home that she suffered respiratory paralysis, without having time to go to the hospital. Her companion with whom she had dinner on Saturday evening at the Tchin Tchin Wine bar, is hospitalized in Paris, in serious condition.
Identify other possible cases
The appearance of symptoms varies depending on the person (digestive, ENT, speech difficulties, swallowing and neurological disorders), and food botulism has an incubation time which “can range from a few hours to a few days”, the health authorities want avoid the risk of missing cases. The Ministry of Health issued an urgent alert to health professionals on Tuesday to inform them of “ten cases clinically suggestive of food botulism” and warning that “the occurrence of other cases in the coming days , in connection with this establishment is not excluded.”
Cases of botulism are very rare, with 15 to 20 cases per year in France, but depending on the quantity of toxins ingested and the state of health of the patients, vital prognoses can be jeopardized. The administration of an antidote as soon as possible after the appearance of symptoms “can help shorten the hospitalization time”, specifies the Ministry of Health in its communication to caregivers. “This involves administering the antitoxin before fixation on the endplate (it allows the motor nervous system to control the contraction of certain muscles),” explains Benjamin Clouzeau. In France, the reserve of antitoxins is under the control of the Army because a terrorist risk is associated with it. A stock was prepositioned in Bordeaux, after this collective intoxication.
Seizures of canned goods and analyzes
All the necessary administrative measures have been taken against the restaurant, all of its canned goods, and not just those of sardines, have been seized and which no longer has the right to serve products made by it. The results of the analyzes will be available on Friday but we already know that “the establishment is well maintained but that there is a lack of control in the canned manufacturing process”, points out Thierry Touzet.
For the moment the food symptoms blame the sardines, which were served as is, like tapas. “We know that nine jars were served and that each contains three to four sardines,” specifies the deputy director of the departmental population protection directorate. The authorities recalled that the disease is not transmissible but linked to the ingestion of toxins.
Intoxicated people can have after-effects, particularly if they are victims of infectious complications, but “the good thing is that the vast majority of cases are young, since they are all under 41 years old except for one woman, aged 71 years,” specifies Doctor Benjamin Clouzeau. This Wednesday, five of the eight patients in intensive care at Bordeaux University Hospital are on respiratory assistance.
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