Death toll rises to 4 in botulism outbreak in Italy

A 62-year-old woman died in Sardinia on Tuesday of botulinum food poisoning. This brings the death toll in Italy to four.

Valeria Sollai had been in hospital in Monserrato, in the province of Cagliari, for several weeks. The woman had consumed a guacamole dish at the Fiesta Latina in Monserrato at the end of July.

The same dish had caused the death of Roberta Pitzalis, 36, who died at the Businco hospital in Cagliari. The cause of death was ascertained by autopsy. A 14-year-old girl remains hospitalised in the same city.

In addition to the two Sardinian victims, two other people died in Calabria from botulism.

The cases can all be traced back to contaminated industrial and household preserves.

Carlo Alessandro Locatelli, director of the Maugeri Poison Control Centre in Pavia, pointed out that around 40 cases of botulism are recorded in Italy every year, mostly linked to contaminated home preserves.

"There is no alarm, but prevention is crucial, especially in the preparation of home preserves," Locatelli said.

"Botulinum toxin is invisible and often does not alter the taste of food. The antidote is only effective in the early stages, when the toxin is still in the bloodstream".

The first cases in Italy

In recent weeks, the two outbreaks of botulinum poisoning in Sardinia and Calabria have been worrying Italians.

The Calabrian cluster concerns 18 people who, in the first week of August in Diamante, in the province of Cosenza, consumed sandwiches with sausage and friarielli (a type of broccoli) bought from a street vendor.

Luigi di Sarno, 52, and Tamara D'Acunto, 45, died after eating the vegetables.

Ten people are under investigation by the Paola public prosecutor's office, including the street vendor, three managers of companies producing the product, and six doctors from two health facilities in the Cosenza area who treated the victims before they died.

They are charged with various offences of culpable homicide, culpable personal injury and trading in harmful foodstuffs.

According to analyses carried out by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Higher Institute of Health), the poisoning was caused by more than one foodstuff, and not just the friarielli used to season sandwiches sold by a street trader in Diamante.

Italy among Europe's countries with highest rate of botulism

According to the health institute's data, 452 cases of botulism were laboratory confirmed in Italy between 2001 and 2020, with an average lethality rate of 3.1 per cent.

Ninety-one per cent of the cases are foodborne, often related to the consumption of home-canned goods.

In 2023, Italy recorded the highest number of botulism cases in Europe, with 36 confirmed reports, followed by Germany (16), France (15), Romania and Spain (14 each).

The Italian canning tradition, especially in southern regions, is one of the main causes of this high incidence.

Home preservation of food, if not performed correctly, can promote the proliferation of Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium responsible for botulism.

Symptoms can occur from six hours up to seven days after consuming contaminated food. They include double vision, dilated pupils, drooping eyelids, difficulty speaking and swallowing, dry mouth and constipation.

In severe cases, breathing may be impaired, necessitating intubation.