On May 9, the Department of Pediatrics - Cao Bang General Hospital received 16 children from 3 to 4 years old with symptoms of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever. They are all students of Song Hien Kindergarten (Cao Bang City) and have meals at the school during the day.
Symptoms started from around 5pm to 7:30pm the same day. According to the school, lunch includes rice, sausage sticky rice, squash soup, stir-fried pumpkin; snack with ga-go cake and Gigo Nutri Gold recipe.
The provincial Food Safety and Hygiene Department coordinated with the Cao Bang City Medical Center and the provincial General Hospital to collect samples of food, drinking water, vomit and droppings for testing and investigating the cause.
Initial inspection results showed that the food had a clear origin, the kitchen was clean, the water source used was tap water, and students drank bottled water. The food supply facility for the school has also been checked for hygiene conditions.
However, up to now, the authorities said that there is still not enough basis to determine the cause of food poisoning, and are waiting for the results of in-depth testing.
On May 11, speaking with reporters, Mr. Nguyen Duc Truong - Vice Chairman of Cao Bang City People's Committee - said that on the morning of May 10, the city's working group visited the children who were being treated. When we arrived, the childrens health was stable and they were active again, he said. It is expected that in the next 1-2 days, there will be test results to determine the official cause.
Previously, on April 23, a similar incident occurred at Nuoc Hai Primary School (Hoa An District), when 27 students were hospitalized with symptoms of abdominal pain, nausea, and hives after lunch. Most of them are students in class 5B.
Testing food and drink samples later did not detect disease-causing bacteria such as Shigella, Salmonella, E.coli or yellow blood cell. Causes of food poisoning are ruled out.
According to Dr. Nguyen Van Chung (CDC Cao Bang), the symptoms of hives may be due to weather allergies or pollen excretion, especially during the changing seasons.
Two consecutive incidents in less than 20 days have worried many parents. Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong - a parent in Cao Bang City - shared: "My wife and I are very worried. Not feeding my children at boarding school would be inconvenient because I could not pick them up and drop them off many times a day".
According to the reporter's research, the People's Committee of Cao Bang City is also implementing a peak period of food hygiene and safety inspection in the whole area, especially in schools.
