Three children are suspected of botulinum poisoning after eating Vietnamese sausage sold by street vendors.

At around 9:00 AM on May 13th, a family of four (residents of Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City) including an aunt and three siblings, NVH (14 years old), NVĐ (13 years old), and NTX (10 years old), bought pork sausage from an unknown street vendor to eat with bread.

Approximately 12-18 hours after eating, all four individuals experienced abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and frequent diarrhea. Subsequently, symptoms of fatigue and body aches gradually appeared, and the three children developed progressive muscle weakness.

On May 14th, all three children were admitted to Children's Hospital 2 in a state of exhaustion. Patient NVĐ showed signs of drooping eyelids, weakness in both legs, and by 5 a.m. the following morning , developed respiratory failure, requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation.

The other two children, NVH and NTX, also showed symptoms of drooping eyelids and leg weakness on the afternoon of May 14th. On the morning of May 15th, these two children also exhibited drooping eyelids, progressive weakness in all four limbs, and muscle strength of approximately 4/5, so the hospital invited doctors from the Tropical Diseases Department at Cho Ray Hospital for assistance due to suspected food poisoning.

At approximately 3 PM on May 15th, after consulting with doctors from Children's Hospital 2, Cho Ray Hospital unanimously agreed on a suspected diagnosis of botulinum poisoning due to eating Vietnamese pork sausage. By 7 PM the same day, clinical tests confirmed the diagnosis of botulinum poisoning.

Due to the urgent nature of botulinum poisoning, delayed treatment can lead to muscle paralysis and respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation for 3-6 months. Therefore, doctors decided to treat the patient as early as possible to avoid severe complications. With this goal in mind, Cho Ray Hospital immediately contacted the Northern Quang Nam Regional General Hospital to transfer the remaining two vials of BAT (from the treatment of a cluster of botulinum poisoning cases caused by eating pickled fish in March 2023).

At 1:00 AM on May 16th, the team from Cho Ray Hospital, who had arrived at Tan Son Nhat Airport earlier, received the team from the Northern Quang Nam Regional General Hospital and transported the BAT antidote directly to Children's Hospital 2. At Children's Hospital 2, after a final consultation, early this morning, all three children received the BAT antidote to detoxify botulinum toxin. After one hour of infusion, all the children were stable and showed no signs of anaphylaxis.

As of 6:00 AM this morning, May 16th, the children's health is stable. They will continue to be monitored and re-examined every four hours to assess their health condition.

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