In September 2024, the authorities reported a recall of artisanal canned wild garlic pesto after the reporting of cases of botulism in Indre-et-Loire, this serious neurological condition caused by a powerful toxin that is found in canned foods that have not undergone the proper sterilization process.
Months later, four of the five people infected during a meal with friends remain in intensive care at Bretonneau hospital in Tours, Ici Touraine (formerly France Bleu Touraine) learned. The fifth, who is doing better, was able to leave the service. “She is still hospitalized, according to Professor Pierre-François Dequin. We will say that she has come out of the very acute phase of her illness.”
Months of fighting
The others, “conscious”, remain on a respirator. The developments nevertheless remain encouraging, with “progress in muscle recovery”. “The toxin is leaving,” reassures Professor Dequin. Patients can in fact “communicate at least through their faces” and their “digestive tract works better”.
If “the vast majority of patients treated without delay recover without after-effects, convalescence can last several months,” specifies the Pasteur Institute on its website. Proof that the fight will be long: it will take months for these patients after their release from intensive care to re-educate their muscles atrophied by immobility.
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