A second person has d!ed after eating a broccoli sandwich in Italy amid a toxic botulism outbreak that has left multiple people hospitalised
Last week, 52-year-old artist Luigi Di Sarno d!ed after eating the panini from a food truck in the town of Diamante, in Calabria.
Now, Tamara D’Acunto, 45, has also d!ed, and more than a dozen people have been hospitalised.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the outbreak and ordered a nationwide recall of the commercially produced panini that has left 14 people with food poisoning including two teenagers.
Postmortem examinations are being conducted this week as part of the investigation.
The sandwich contained grilled sausages and an Italian summer vegetable called ‘cime di rapa’ or turnip tops, similar to broccoli.
Nine people are being investigated by the authorities, including the owner of the food truck on the seafront in the province of Cosenza whose vehicle as been seized, The Telegraph reported.
Three employers of the company who allegedly made the sandwich are also being investigated, as well as five doctors who treated victims near the city of Cosenza.
The medics are accused of having not acting quickly enough to save the victims, after Mr Di Sarno’s sister alleged that her brother was discharged from hospital despite still feeling sick and later d!ed.
Botulism is a rare but life-threatening condition caused by toxins produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria.
The neurotoxins attack the body’s nervous system, and can cause respiratory muscle failure, paralysis and de.ath.
Di Sarno, an artist and musician originally from Cercola, in the province of Naples, was on holiday in Calabria with his family.
After they ate the sandwich on the Tyrrhenian coast of Cosenza, he began driving back home to Naples.But on the way back he fell ill.
Others were rushed to Annunziata Hospital in Cosenza, including two 17-year-olds and two women in their 40s. Two of the patients were reportedly in a serious condition when they arrived at the intensive care unit.
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