Even respiratory failure that can cause death. Twelve cases of botulism have been identified in France in recent days: one woman died and nine people remain hospitalized this Thursday. These cases are related to the consumption of canned sardines served in a Bordeaux establishment, the Tchin Tchin Wine Bar.
Due to the incubation period of this disease, authorities expect to potentially see new cases until Sunday at the latest. These are the symptoms that should alert you.
Rapid progression of symptoms.
“At first, it will cause a food infection with diarrhea, stomach pain, vomiting…” Bruno Mégarbane, head of the intensive care unit at the Lariboisière hospital in Paris, explains to BFMTV (AP-HP). In fact, according to Public Health France, the most common form is foodborne botulism.
“In the following hours, the person will complain of having difficulty seeing and concentrating,” the doctor continues.
“As it is a toxin that attacks the nervous system, muscle paralysis can occur which can cause what is called diplopia: we see double because the eye muscles work worse,” adds Benoît Elleboode, general director of ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
breathing difficulties
Symptoms can quickly progress to difficulty breathing and swallowing (with difficulty swallowing, speaking, and then breathing), as the toxin acts on muscles, including those in the respiratory tract. “We will begin to have a paralysis of the muscles that starts in the upper part of the body and then goes down,” details Bruno Mégarbane.
“It is a disease that progresses very quickly” and whose “signs are different from one patient to another,” Dr. Benjamin Clouzeau emphasized this Wednesday. This makes diagnosis difficult, “especially because there are other, much more common diseases that can cause these disorders,” adds Benoît Elleboode.
“That is why we had to alert health professionals so that, in case of symptoms of this type, special attention be paid to botulism,” adds the general director of ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
This disease is rare: we are talking about 0.5 cases per million inhabitants. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), botulism can be fatal in between 5 and 10% of cases. Mortality is particularly high for people who do not receive early diagnosis.
Source: BFM TV
