Clarebout Potatoes : infection mysterious key 70 employees

zlikovec/epictura

Published the 02.08.2017 at 11h16

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Definitely, the employees of Clarebout Potatoes are not fried. 70 employees of the company, located near the belgian border, have developed symptoms of a mysterious infection, according to the regional Agency of Health contacted by Pourquoidocteur. But since the 26 July, the date of declaration of the first case, health authorities are evolving in a blur total. They have not been able to determine the origin of this epidemic, or even its nature.

It is a true medical mystery that hovers in the franco-belgian border. Sick employees, predominantly French, have been hospitalized in institutions in the region : Valenciennes, Tourcoing, Hazebrouck. The unhappy Belgians, who have suffered the same symptoms were also examined in addition to-Quiévrain. But despite the coordination between the regional Agency of health (ARS) of the Hauts-de-France and its equivalent in the Flat Country, the infection still has no name.

A cleaning cause

The signs of the disease are rather common, and this does nothing to isolate a precise pathology. Most employees infected have suffered from headaches and muscle aches. And they share a common point : they all work in the factory of Clarebout Potatoes”, specialized in the preparation of the products to base of potatoes pre-cooked and frozen.

The production site has therefore been the subject of sampling and analysis, whose first results were expected on July 28. But a heavy silence settled. Only the flu and a few other suspects have been ruled out. According to a company employee, interviewed by the Voice of The North, the hospital doctors suggest a milder form of legionnaires ‘ disease, a disease of bacterial origin especially fond of the water. Gold, says the regional daily newspaper, a steam cleaning took place shortly before the arrival of symptoms.

The vast majority of patients were able to return home with a prescription of antipyretics and analgesics. In addition, ” isolation measures have been taken to the patients who stand next to frail people, they were able to return home but with a respiratory mask. As long as we do not know the reason of their state, we take precautions, ” detailed Claude Decrock, director of care at the hospital of Armentières.