Скачать или смотреть 3 dead, 9 ill after eating snail and millet dumplings｜Taiwan News

Three people have died and nine remain in the hospital in a suspected food poisoning cluster in Taitung. The patients had all eaten millet dumplings containing foraged snails, pork and bamboo shoots. Shortly after consumption, they experienced symptoms such as dizziness, difficulty breathing and foaming at the mouth. Six of them are still in critical condition. Samples of the food have been sent for testing, with results expected next Monday. Let’s hear from the CDC.

Philip Lo
CDC spokesperson
Our current assessment is that it’s not a communicable disease, as the symptoms appeared too fast for that. The opinion of several toxicologists is that pesticides are likely to blame, and so the relevant investigations and tests will be carried out.

Chen Yen-yuen
Former Taipei health chief
At least it’s likely not caused by parasites. With parasites, the development of symptoms until death tends to be slower. Rat lungworms can sometimes reside in African giant snails, but an infection wouldn’t result in death so quickly. There must be a different cause.

Yen Tzung-hai
Toxicologist
Norovirus-related deaths are quite rare. Parasitic food poisoning can result in death from multiple organ failure in as little as two hours. Though the likelihood of that is low, it cannot be completely ruled out. There should also be tests for toxins such as bongkrekic acid. It should also be investigated whether the victims consumed counterfeit alcohol, conducting tests for ethanol and methanol. The tests will determine what caused such a severe reaction so fast, and affecting so many people at once.

The first death happened on Tuesday evening. A woman surnamed Tseng had cooked a batch of millet dumplings using snails that a friend of hers had collected from a field. She fell ill after eating them, and was sent to the hospital at around 8 p.m. Doctors were unable to save her. Later in the day, Ms. Tseng’s body was returned home, and relatives and friends assembled at her house to mourn her death. During the gathering, they unknowingly ate the suspect dumplings that Ms. Tseng had prepared earlier that day.

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