Clarebout Potatoes : the trail of Pontiac fever

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Published the 05.08.2017 to 12: 30 pm

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No official announcement of the belgian authorities has been communicated, but the vise tightens around the Pontiac fever. The health authorities of flanders have unveiled the first results of the analysis, that The Voice of the North has relayed. “Analyses of blood and urine have not pointed to clear reason “, and all the tests for infectious diseases came back negative, leaving as the only track open this disease, according to the daily northerner.

Pontiac fever is a rare and benign of legionnaires ‘ disease. She has some symptoms, fatigue, fever, muscle aches and headache, but not the pulmonary complications. To confirm the diagnosis, it will be necessary to wait up to four weeks.

The French in majority

At last count, 85 people have made the cost of infection reported among the employees of Clarebout Potatoes. 71 live on the French side of the border, the other 14 in Belgium.

Since 26 July, the date of declaration of the first case, health authorities are evolving in a blur total. Sick employees, predominantly French, have been hospitalized in institutions in the region. The unhappy Belgians, who have suffered the same symptoms were also examined in addition to-Quiévrain.

A track considered

The signs of the disease are rather common, and this does nothing to isolate a precise pathology. One thing is for sure : all of the victims 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.

Pending the results, the authorities have not taken risk. “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.