Our Italian food safety friend sends along a report that two children were sickened with Salmonella after a Japanese-style dinner in Rome.

Doctors told their parents that the children might have died if they were younger.

An 11-year-old boy and his 14-year-old cousin were admitted to the Bambin Gesù hospital in Rome on July 8th for emergency care. It was probably caused by a contaminated shrimp sandwich.

The children were returning home a night earlier after dining with their families in a Japanese-Chinese restaurant, located near Tor Marancia. The restaurant came under intensive scrutiny by the health authorities because the same evening, Saturday July the 7th, three other adult diners were infected by the bacteria: the mother of the 11-year-old boy and two young women, who were admitted to the Rome’s Spallanzani hospital. According to the doctors, all contracted Salmonella D, or Salmonella Thipy (sic).

The mother of the 11-year-old was quoted as saying, "The morning of the 8th at about 6 my son woke up with stomach pains and diarrhea. I phoned my sister and she told me that his son was also ill, that he was vomiting. We waited a while, while we were over the phone but the situation worsened. My son began to vomit while my nephew began to have diarrhea. Following the twentieth loose stool within a few hours my son started to feel cold, the fever was rising. His cousin had temperature over 39. We ran to the emergency room. We might have had a tragedy. It is a shame that this restaurant, after what happened, is still open. "