3 children suspected of botulinum poisoning from eating street-sold pork roll

At around 9am on May 13, a family of 4 (living in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City) including an aunt and 3 siblings NVH (14 years old), NVĐ (13 years old) and NTX (10 years old) bought pork roll from a street vendor of unknown origin to eat with bread.

About 12-18 hours after eating, all four people suffered from stomachaches, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea many times. Then, gradually symptoms of fatigue, body aches appeared and the three children gradually had muscle weakness.

On May 14, all three children were admitted to Children's Hospital 2 in a state of exhaustion. Patient NVĐ showed symptoms of drooping eyelids, weakness in both legs, and at 5am the next morning , he suffered respiratory failure and had to be intubated and put on a ventilator.

The other two children, NVH and NTX, also showed symptoms of drooping eyelids and weak legs on the afternoon of May 14. On the morning of May 15, these two children also showed drooping eyelids and gradually weakened limbs, with muscle strength of about 4/5, so the hospital invited doctors from the Tropical Diseases Department at Cho Ray Hospital to assist because they suspected the patients were poisoned.

At around 3pm on May 15, after consulting with doctors at Children's Hospital 2, Cho Ray Hospital agreed to diagnose suspected botulinum poisoning due to eating pork roll. By 7pm the same day, paraclinical tests were consistent with the diagnosis of botulinum poisoning.

Due to the urgent nature of botulinum poisoning, if treatment is delayed, it will lead to muscle paralysis, respiratory failure requiring a ventilator for 3-6 months, so doctors decided to treat as soon as possible to avoid serious complications. With that goal, Cho Ray Hospital immediately contacted the Northern Mountainous Regional General Hospital of Quang Nam to transfer BAT (2 remaining bottles after the treatment of a cluster of botulinum poisoning cases due to eating pickled fish in March 2023).

At 1am on May 16, the Cho Ray Hospital team arrived at Tan Son Nhat Airport earlier, and picked up the team from the Northern Mountainous Region General Hospital of Quang Nam to transport BAT directly to Children's Hospital 2. At Children's Hospital 2, after a final consultation, early this morning, all 3 children were given BAT to detoxify botulinum. After 1 hour of antidote infusion, the children were all stable with no signs of anaphylaxis.

As of 6am this morning, May 16, the children's health condition is stable. They will continue to be monitored and re-examined, and their health status will be assessed every 4 hours.

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