Eight months after its pollution by botulism during a birthday meal in September, four of the five people victims of bacteria are still in intensive care, even if their general condition is “encouraging”, while the investigation continues.
“The very good news is that of the five people in question, one has already been released from the service. The other good news is that the state of the other four has also improved over time: patients are still hospitalized in resuscitation, but their general condition is better,” said Pierre-François Dequin, Chru de Tours.
In September, five thirty were presented to the emergency room after consuming cans of the garlic pesto of the brand “or PTIs onions”, during a birthday meal organized in Indre-Et-Loire. They were hospitalized in serious condition. The analysis quickly confirmed the presence of botulism bacteria.
“Today, if it is still too early to anticipate possible sequelae,” all “can measure the progress made,” according to Professor Dequin.
One or two patients still under respiratory assistance
The four still hospitalized people “manage to speak perfectly.” “There are one or two patients who still require a bit of respiratory assistance at night, but we will still progress in the right direction,” he hopes.
“But each of them is aware of the progress that remains to be done,” Nuance Pierre-François Dequin. Once outside the resuscitation service, a long phase of “rehabilitation” wait “, first in the center”.
The idea, “is that they can then go home as soon as possible, to continue physiotherapy” on their side and relaunch the muscles to the total stop, or almost, from the beginning of their hospitalization.
Risks of syndrome after collection with “sleep disorders or anxieties” can also occur, but “the evolution of its global status is still very encouraging,” according to Professor Dequin.
To face, “the families were very present, they also experienced very difficult periods,” he said. “Their visits are essential: they remind patients who have a life elsewhere and their passage here is just a parenthesis.”
An ongoing survey since September 30, 2024
With respect to the judicial component, “the investigation is underway in the framework of the judicial information opened on September 30, 2024, against the natural person and against his company” at the origin of the Pesto pots, he told the Prosecutor of the Republic of the Tours Catherine Sorita-Minard.
The crime of “involuntary injuries with total disability for a work greater than three months for a manifestly deliberate violation of an obligation of prudence or security” had been held remarkably.
“There has not yet an accusation in this archive. Several of the victims were a civil party and have access to the archive,” added Mrs. Sorita-Minard, adding that the investigations continue and relate in particular to “the team used to sterilize” and the canned manufacturer.
For example, it remains to be determined whether this pollution occurred after “a deliberate violation of a particular obligation of prudence or security imposed by law” or, on the contrary, after clumsiness or negligence, for example, of the producer. The latter did not want to speak.
Botulism is a rare and severe neurological condition, fatal in 5 to 10% of cases, caused by a very powerful toxin produced by a bacteria that develops in poorly preserved foods, due to lack of sufficient sterilization.
“Very rare”, especially “thanks to the progress of food security” according to Professor Dequin, botulism remains “a serious affection” and “vigorously dangerous.”
In September 2023, sixteen clients, including a woman who died, were identified as “suspicious cases of botulism” after having eaten sardines in artisanal manufacturing in a tourist restaurant in the center of Bordeaux.
Source: BFM TV
