Gabrielle Jones, epidemiologist at Public Health France, spoke of “a very large-scale event” on Wednesday on France Inter, when 75 children were affected by contamination with the E.coli bacterium.
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“This is the largest epidemic ever described in France”, put into perspective Wednesday March 30 on France Inter, Gabrielle Jones, epidemiologist at Public Health France. Contamination with the bacterium Escherichia coli resulted in 75 cases of hemolytic-uremic syndromes (HUS), including 41 serious cases.
“It’s a huge event”adds the epidemiologist, who explains that around 160 hemolytic and uremic syndromes are reported each year to Public Health France. “We are therefore already halfway through what we usually observe over a year”she worries.
Gabrielle Jones also confirms that “the vast majority of families surveyed report consumption” Buitoni brand pizzas. “We are exploring different hypotheses to find out how the contaminations could have occurred despite the cooking of the pizza. This may be the manipulation of the pizza not yet cooked”she speculates.
Finally, the epidemiologist explains that “for the vast majority” of patients, the symptoms are composed of “kidney complications”but there may also be “Associated complications that affect the heart and the brain, even deaths, which we unfortunately had in the context of this epidemic”.