Overview

• Seventeen children have been hospitalized since June 12 with severe digestive symptoms including bloody diarrhea, with three new cases reported over the weekend.
• Eight of the young patients developed hemolytic uremic syndrome and a 12-year-old girl is the outbreak’s only fatality.
• Authorities have closed four Saint-Quentin butcheries and suspended a supermarket meat counter as a precautionary measure.
• Samples from the suspect venues have been sent to the national reference laboratory in Marcy-l’Étoile.
• Investigators warn that none of the closed outlets share a common meat supplier, complicating efforts to pinpoint the contamination source.