Botox: almost 40 infected workers, 7 in intensive care

Almost 40 workers have contracted Botox poisoning and are hospitalized in Cefalù. They had all eaten at the same company canteen

Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerous

They had all eaten a meal at the same company canteen but within a few hours they showed up at the hospital with the same symptoms. 37 workers working on the railway doubling of the Palermo-Messina railway line were hospitalized in recent days in the hospitals of Cefalù and Termini Imerese for suspected food poisoning. But now the results from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità have arrived: it is botulinum.

The story began a week ago when, as revealed by the hospital itself, in less than 36 hours 23 patients presented themselves to the emergency room with neurological symptoms. The first diagnosis of the Giglio health workers was that of "suspected botulinum poisoning". Over the next few days, another 14 people went to the emergency room complaining of vision impairment, blurred or double vision, difficulty speaking, dry mouth, muscle weakness and even trouble breathing.

Diagnosis that had to be confirmed by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome to which the Giglio Foundation had sent the samples. And yesterday the confirmation from the ISS arrived: it is Clostridium, the botulinum toxin-producing bacterium.

"It is a confirmation of the first diagnosis of our doctors - said the health director Salvatore Vizzi - now we await the results on the other samples already sent to the Istituto Superiore di Sanità".

According to reports from the hospital, all patients ate the same meal and mostly presented with the same symptoms.

"In addition, the discharged patients - added the head of the emergency room Emanuele Sesti - are 14. The rest of the patients, hospitalized in the medical area (11 medicine, 2 neurology, 3 emergency room), are stable and do not present particular criticalities but are kept constant monitoring for any evolution of the disease ".

Of the three patients in intensive care at Giglio, one was transferred to medicine. Four patients, on the other hand, had been transferred in recent days to intensive care in Termini Imerese.

Yesterday the two patients with the most serious conditions were given a vial of antidote, made available by the "National Antidote Stock" of the Ministry of Health, in conjunction with the Poison Control Center of Pavia.

The judiciary and the Nas are investigating the matter, which are dealing with the company that provides external catering to Toto Costruzioni Generali, whose workers are working on the construction site for the doubling of the Palermo-Messina railway line, in the section between Cefalù and Castelbuono.

What is botulism

As explained by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, it is a neuro-paralytic disease caused by the toxins of the clostridia, producers of botulinum toxins. These microorganisms can be found, mainly in the form of spores, in many environments such as the soil, marine and lake sediments, but also in foods. Even the intake of very small quantities of food contaminated with botulinum toxins is enough to cause illness and even death in the most serious cases.

The foods most at risk are canned and semi-preserved foods that are not acidic or that have not undergone acidification / fermentation treatments:

“Canned foods of industrial production are generally not dangerous because the production technologies are well standardized and allow the development and toxinogenesis of the clostridia producing botulinum toxins to be controlled” explains the ISS.

Reference source: Giglio Institute Foundation, Higher Institute of Health