The health of patients with Botulinum poisoning has stabilized.

According to the leader of the Northern Mountainous Region General Hospital of Quang Nam , these patients are all from Phuoc Son district (Quang Nam); currently being treated at the Intensive Care - Anti-Poison Department (Northern Mountainous Region General Hospital of Quang Nam) and coordinating with doctors of Cho Ray Hospital to consult and treat serious patients on ventilators. Cho Ray Hospital has sent experts to bring 5 bottles of antidote (priced at more than 6,000 USD/bottle) to the hospital.

Among the 3 clusters of cases, case number 1 was hospitalized on March 7, 2023, including 3 women and 1 man, residing in Phuoc Duc commune, Phuoc Son district. All 4 people ate pickled carp. After 12-24 hours of eating the fish, these cases all had symptoms of abdominal pain, vomiting, fatigue and gradually weakening limbs. After 3 days of treatment at the Northern Mountainous Region General Hospital of Quang Nam, due to the severe progression of the disease, 1 patient (40-year-old woman) died; the health of the remaining 3 cases is currently stable.

Case 2 consists of 3 men and 1 woman in the same family, residing in Phuoc Kien commune, Phuoc Son district. On March 16, the whole family ate pickled carp and after only about 24 hours, the patients had symptoms of vomiting, fatigue, headaches, etc. and were transferred to the Northern Mountainous Region General Hospital of Quang Nam for emergency treatment.

As of March 18, there were 2 patients with quadriplegia, respiratory failure and needing ventilators; the remaining 2 patients (12-year-old male and 24-year-old female) had mild weakness in all four limbs, muscle strength 4/5 - 5/5, and could breathe on their own.

The third case cluster is a 37-year-old female patient, residing in Phuoc Chanh commune, Phuoc Son district. After a day of eating pickled carp, this patient vomited a lot, gradually weakened her limbs and was transferred to the emergency room. By March 16, the patient had respiratory failure and was on a ventilator.

After receiving cases of food poisoning patients, suspected of botulism poisoning, the Board of Directors of the Northern Mountainous Region General Hospital of Quang Nam urgently directed relevant departments and offices to carry out the following contents: Conduct hospital consultations including the Department of Intensive Care and Anti-Poison, Department of Internal Medicine, Geriatrics - Neurology - Psychiatry, General Planning Department; ask for instructions from Bach Mai Hospital; consult directly with Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City; provide intensive care treatment for patients; order blood tests (in coordination with the Quang Nam Food Safety Department); provide treatment to improve physical condition, mechanical ventilation, sedation, antibiotics when indicated; treat activated charcoal, sorbitol..., sedation, antibiotics; administer antidotes to 3 patients on ventilators.

On the morning of March 18, the Northern Mountainous Region General Hospital of Quang Nam connected to an online consultation with doctors from Cho Ray Hospital. The consultation results showed that the possibility of the patients suffering from Botulinum poisoning was very high.

Faced with this urgent situation, the leadership of Cho Ray Hospital decided to send leading experts in anti-poisoning and resuscitation, including Dr. Le Quoc Hung - Head of the Department of Tropical Diseases and Dr. Tran Thanh Linh - Head of the Department of Emergency Resuscitation, along with a pharmacist to directly bring the remaining 5 vials of Botulinum antitoxin (a rare drug) to the Northern Mountainous Region General Hospital of Quang Nam to treat 3 patients on the same afternoon.

MSc. Dr. Le Minh Dung - Head of the Department of Intensive Care and Anti-Poisoning, Northern Mountainous Region General Hospital, Quang Nam: "All 3 clusters of cases ate the same food: pickled carp. During the processing of this food, the fish is put in a sealed glass container and then taken out to eat after 2-3 weeks. This is a factor that creates conditions for the bacteria Clostridium Botulinum to grow. When a patient eats this type of bacteria, it will cause poisoning that is very dangerous to life.

At 6:30 p.m. on March 18, the test results of the salted and fermented carp feed sample conducted by the Nha Trang Pasteur Institute (the feed of the first cluster of cases) confirmed Clostridium Botulinum type E (+).

"It can be confirmed that the patients suffered from Botulinum poisoning" - Dr. Le Quoc Hung shared.

In parallel with the treatment of the patients, the Northern Mountainous Region General Hospital of Quang Nam also sent a report to the Quang Nam Department of Health about the above poisoning cases; requesting the local health sector to urgently notify local people to prevent the possibility of further poisoning due to eating this food.

* Regarding the above poisoning case, on the afternoon of March 21, Dr. Mai Van Muoi, Director of the Department of Health of Quang Nam province, said that after efforts to treat and resuscitate patients poisoned by eating pickled carp, the health of the patients has stabilized. Among them, patient Ho Van Dieu, 57 years old, is still on a ventilator but his vital signs are stable. The hospital consulted with experts from Cho Ray Hospital and agreed to use the antibiotic Meronem to promptly treat multi-resistant infections for the patients. Patients Ho Thi Tai, 37 years old and Ho Van Dai, 26 years old have stopped using ventilators and their health has improved; the health of the remaining 6 patients who are not on ventilators is stable.

“Currently, doctors and nurses at the Northern Mountainous Region General Hospital of Quang Nam continue to care for and provide emergency resuscitation treatment for these poisoned patients; regularly consult with doctors at Cho Ray Hospital, ensuring adequate medicine, supplies, etc., as needed” - Dr. Mai Van Muoi informed./.

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