Guillaume Dominguez (in Fère-Champenoise) / Photo credits: FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI / AFP
9:47 a.m., June 5, 2024
In Fère-Champenoise, a town of 2,000 inhabitants in the Marne, several dozen students have been hospitalized in recent days after a series of poisonings of unknown origin. As a result, many parents no longer want to send their children to school.
Nausea, vomiting, headaches… Several dozen students have been hospitalized in recent days after a series of poisonings in Fère-Champenoise, in Marne. Symptoms which manifested themselves on the path which separates the establishment from the canteen. For the moment, the possibility of a chemical or natural pollutant is favored.
The mystery remains
In the village, the mystery remains unsolved and the subject is in all the conversations: pollution, works, carbon monoxide poisoning, everyone has their own theory. “At first, they thought it was gas, the fumes from a stove, but there are no stoves, nothing in the schools…” testifies Franck.
Despite the presence of carbon monoxide in the blood of the young victims, the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning was ruled out by the prefect of Marne, since during this season, the heating is turned off in the establishments. For Henry Prevost, prefect of Marne, suspicions are rather focused on an element present in the air in the neighborhood: “Possibly pollens which could be very allergenic and with a particular meteorological situation, could cause this type of reaction. [Concernant] research for chemical pollutants, at this stage, we have not detected a Source of these pollutants,” he explains.
Primary school remains closed
In this context, many parents, like Sandy, mother of a four-year-old girl, refuse to send her child back to school. “We made the decision not to wear it until the end of the week, at least. As parents, we remain in the dark: carbon monoxide or not? Poisoning or not? We no longer know where we is and we still do not know the cause of this real infection,” she worries.
A surveillance protocol must be deployed, as quickly as possible, in this residential area. In the meantime, primary school remains closed and many parents have decided to no longer send their children to middle school.
