A woman has died and 12 people have been hospitalised after an outbreak of botulism in sardines served at a restaurant in south-western France.
Botulism is a serious neurological illness typically brought on by eating food that has been improperly preserved. The restaurant in Bordeaux had preserved the sardines itself, the DGS health authority said.
The nationality of the dead woman, aged 32, had not yet been determined, a source close to the case said.
A doctor at Pellegrin hospital in Bordeaux, Benjamin Clouzeau, said a further 12 people were still receiving emergency treatment on Wednesday morning. Five of them were on respiratory support. The group included American, Irish and Canadian nationals. A German national travelled home for treatment, as did a resident of Barcelona, Spain, the doctor said.
All of them had eaten at the Tchin Tchin wine bar between 4 and 10 September, when there were typically large numbers of tourists in the city, famous for its wine and food. They all ate sardines that had been stored by the restaurant owner in jars, the DGS said.
Botulism is deadly in 5-10% of cases because of a toxin generated by Clostridium botulinum bacteria, which can appear when preserved food is insufficiently sterilised.
Authorities were running tests at the restaurant, the DGS said, adding it could not rule out the emergence of further cases of botulism, which has an incubation period of up to several days. It can cause muscle paralysis lasting several weeks, with the most immediate danger stemming from affected respiratory muscles.
The local newspaper Sud-Ouest quoted the restaurateur as saying he had thrown out some of the jars of sardines because of a strong smell when he opened them. But others “appeared in good condition and were served up to customers”, he added.
