106 people in a kindergarten in South Korea suffered from food poisoning! What exactly happened? Attached details

Recently, 106 people in a kindergarten in South Korea suffered from food poisoning. The children experienced varying degrees of abdominal pain, vomiting and other symptoms, and their parents and teachers also had suspected conditions. "Hamburger disease" appeared in South Korea earlier. What exactly happened?

106 people in a South Korean kindergarten suffered from food poisoning

A large-scale food poisoning incident occurred in a kindergarten in Ansan City, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea recently. As of yesterday, a total of 106 children, family members and teachers had symptoms of food poisoning such as abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea. Among them, the number of patients suspected of hemolytic uremic syndrome, also known as "hamburger disease", increased to 15.

The 106 people who suffered from food poisoning were mainly children from this kindergarten in Ansan City, South Korea. Among them, three children who did not attend the kindergarten but had contact with a child attending the kindergarten also showed similar symptoms of food poisoning, which attracted great attention from South Korean health agencies. These children are basically around 5-6 years old. The condition of 15 of them has worsened and they have developed symptoms suspected of hemolytic uremic syndrome, also known as "hamburger disease". Four children have renal failure and are now undergoing dialysis.

Hemolytic uremic syndrome, also known as "hamburger disease", became well-known after a group of American children suffered from food poisoning in 1982 after eating undercooked hamburgers. The main reason was eating contaminated or undercooked food. Children and the elderly with low immunity are prone to this disease. There is currently no adequate treatment. If the disease worsens and damages the kidneys, life can only be maintained by dialysis, and the mortality rate is about 5% to 10%.

The large-scale food poisoning incident in the kindergarten caused a sensation in Korean society. Korean health authorities are currently testing and analyzing 104 samples extracted from the kindergarten's meal ingredients, snacks, toys, facilities, etc. The source of infection has not been identified so far; the scope of the investigation has also been expanded to all food suppliers and employees of the kindergarten.

South Korea's Food Sanitation Act stipulates that collective catering units must store each individual meal sample at minus 18 degrees Celsius for 144 hours. However, South Korean health authorities discovered during an investigation that on the day when the children of this kindergarten first showed symptoms of food poisoning, samples of seven kinds of food were not preserved as required, making the current investigation difficult; moreover, the kindergarten did not respond promptly after the food poisoning incident, and it took three days to notify parents to suspend classes, close the school, and accept testing, which also led to the expansion of the scope of this food poisoning.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Education, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other relevant departments of South Korea held an emergency response meeting, and starting today, they will conduct emergency inspections on the food hygiene conditions of 4,031 kindergartens in South Korea that have more than 50 students and provide collective meals. We will continue to pay attention to the latest progress of the investigation.