A seven-year-old child who had been hospitalized at the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra (CHUC) since Saturday on suspicion of severe food poisoning died on Monday, a hospital source confirmed to Lusa on Tuesday.
The mother, 48, remains in critical condition with a “very poor clinical prognosis” and the father, 44, and older brother, 12, have been discharged and are under observation after also being admitted to the facility the same day .
The Central Regional Health Authority (ARSC) confirmed the poisoning of four family members living in Coimbra and announced in a statement that it had opened an investigation to determine the cause of the poisoning.
“Biological samples were collected from patients in a hospital setting to determine the cause of poisoning,” the ARSC public health department said in a note.
The statement adds that as part of the epidemiological investigation, “Public Health conducted home visits to collect food samples (presumably food and other products consumed in a family context) and biological samples,” which were sent to reference laboratories for chemical and biological agents.
Lusa learned from a family source that the symptoms appeared after eating meat.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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