Food poisoning in Aisne: E. coli bacteria, death of a teenager... What we know

Given the number of victims and the technicality of the expected investigations, the case is now in the hands of the public health division of the Paris prosecutor's office. Since the death of a 16-year-old girl on June 16, 22 cases of food poisoning have been recorded in the area around Saint-Quentin, in the Aisne department. The bacterium Escherichia coli, known as "E. coli," is implicated. Investigations are still ongoing to shed light on the exact origin of the contamination, which is causing a certain psychosis in the town, as reported by our colleagues at " Libération ."

The first case of a child suffering from severe food poisoning was reported in the emergency room of the Saint-Quentin Hospital Center in mid-June. Between June 13 and 18, the Aisne prefecture announced that six other children, all residing in the same area, were reporting similar symptoms. Public Health France (SPF) and the Hauts-de-France Regional Health Agency (ARS) then launched investigations to quickly identify the source of the contamination. One of the challenges of these investigations was to determine whether the infectious strains had similar characteristics and whether, de facto, the children's infections had a common origin.

On Sunday, June 22, as the number of infected children rose to 18, Health Minister Yannick Neuder confirmed the source of the illness: the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli), one of the most well-known causes of serious food poisoning . It is generally contracted by eating raw or undercooked food.

Since then, a heavy climate has descended on the town and its surroundings, and many residents have told the media that they are shocked and no longer dare to eat meat until the precise origin of the contamination is clarified, which, for the time being, remains unknown.

From the first cases of contamination, SPF and the ARS of Hauts-de-France inquired into their origins. At the same time, on June 19, a judicial inquiry was opened. "This preliminary investigation was opened against unknown persons on charges of involuntary manslaughter, involuntary injury, endangering the lives of others, and deception regarding merchandise presenting a danger to human life," the Saint-Quentin prosecutor's office stated.

On June 20, two butcher shops in Saint-Quentin were forced to close as a precautionary measure, as part of investigations conducted by health authorities. " The sick children consumed meat or meat products from two establishments a few days before the symptoms appeared ," the prefecture explained in a press release. In the wake of this, two other butcher shops and the shelves of two supermarkets in the metropolitan area were also closed, on the orders of the authorities. Thirty investigators were then mobilized.

This Thursday, June 26, the public health division of the Paris prosecutor's office announced that it had taken charge of the investigation due to the high number of victims and the "technical nature of the expected investigations," according to Laure Beccuau, Paris public prosecutor.

For now, the precise origin of the contamination remains a mystery. However, among the organizations mobilized is the National Reference Center for E. coli, Shigella and Salmonella at the Pasteur Institute. Due to the epidemic nature of the contamination, the director, Professor François-Xavier Weill, told "Libération" that they are trying " to be even faster than usual ." He also explained that due to the relatively long incubation period, the arrival of samples is happening in dribs and drabs.