- According to information from 20 minutes, This Tuesday, there were eight patients hospitalized at the University Hospital, including five in intensive care.
- For the most serious cases, “the vital prognosis was initially compromised by the paralysis of the respiratory muscles”, indicates Dr Benjamin Clouzau, but they were able to be treated quickly and an anti-toxin was administered to them.
- It is an epidemic which began “at the beginning of last week, specifies the resuscitation doctor, with a peak this weekend, which made it possible to make the diagnosis on Saturday”. All the patients had eaten in the same restaurant in the center of Bordeaux.
Cases of botulisman “extremely rare” disease, have been admitted in recent days to the University Hospital of Bordeaux. 20 minutes takes stock of patient hospitalizations, the severity and origin of the disease.
How many patients are hospitalized at the university hospital?
This Tuesday, there were eight patients hospitalized at the University Hospital, including five in intensive care, indicates Dr. Benjamin Clouzau, resuscitation doctor, head of the Intensive Medicine-Resuscitation department (MIR). The ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine, in a press release released in the morning, lists seven probable cases, and an eighth currently being analyzed. Four of the patients in intensive care are intubated and ventilated. “The three other patients, who present a less serious form, were admitted to the continuing medical intensive care units of the CHU,”
In what condition are the most seriously ill?
For the most serious cases, “the vital prognosis was initially compromised by paralysis of the respiratory muscles”, specifies Dr Benjamin Clouzau, which justified immediate treatment in intensive care, “and administration as early as possible. possible of an anti-toxin, which is a drug that will block the toxin. Once the paralysis sets in, the nerves remain blocked, “and this can last three to four weeks, so these are people who will be dependent on a respirator for several weeks, for the five in intensive care”.
How did the patients contract the disease?
It’s a epidemic which began “at the beginning of last week, specifies the head of the division, with a peak this weekend, which made it possible to make the diagnosis on Saturday”. The contaminating source, the Tchin Tchin Wine Bar, a restaurant in the center of Bordeaux, was clearly identified “and health measures were taken to stop the chain”, assures Dr Clouzau. It was “a manufacturing defect in canned food, in this case a batch of cans of sardines”. If there is therefore no longer any danger, a priori, of contracting the disease to date, “we can however fear the arrival of new cases until the end of this week, the last meal being Saturday”, specifies the resuscitator doctor. “It is considered that symptoms can appear up to eight days after eating. »
What are the symptoms ?
Depending on the quantity of product we eat, “we do not ingest the same quantity of toxins and we therefore present different symptoms”. One of the first symptoms to appear is generally diarrhea, “then there can be paralysis of the nerves and eyes without this affecting respiratory paralysis. You can have a whole range of symptoms depending on the dose ingested. The more we eat, the more we risk a serious form.” In all cases, “we must encourage people who have gone to eat in the city center and present with digestive or atypical signs to contact the Samu regulation for support. »
Who are the hospitalized patients?
Mainly people of foreign origin: American, Quebecois, English and Irish, German. Some were in France for the Rugby World Cup, others were sightseeing. “We communicate very widely with all emergency reception services, SOS Médecins, so that symptoms which could pass as trivial are properly questioned to find out if they meet the criteria for concern,” explains Benjamin Clouzau . “But we have also launched an international alert” in case patients have already returned to their country of origin.
What do we know about this disease?
“It’s extremely rare,” insists Benjamin Clouzau. “We were going around the table yesterday between the infectious diseases doctors at the CHU, very few of us saw any. » The incidence is extremely low, “of the order of 0.5 per million inhabitants, and above all it is extremely rare to see so many at once. » The resuscitation doctor, however, wants to be reassuring. “It’s a historic disease that we know well. Before the invention of sterilization there were frequent occurrences, now there are much fewer. »