A 33-year old man hospitalized in Camposampiero remains in critical condition, but is showing signs of recovery following botulism poisoning after eating an instant soup.

Though the young man remains intubated in intensive care, he is slowly regaining mobility of his limbs, after the paralysis caused by the intoxication. Meanwhile, the medical director of Local Health Unit 15 Sandro Artosi stated that he had immediately alerted the Ministry of Health (which was sent a sample of the soup eaten by the 33 year-old).

The Ministry of Health has initiated the emergency food alert procedure and ordered the seizure of the minestrone from retailers. The young man had eaten a pre-cooked instant soup of the company Buonaterra during his lunch break. The Local Health Unit of Alessandria, where the soup manufacturer is located, was also immediately alerted and a Food Alert was started, with the publication on the website of the Ministry of Health.

Botulinum toxin type B has been analytically confirmed in soup by the laboratories of the Istituto Zooprofilattico delle Venezie, Legnaro (Padova). The young man, who had eaten the pre-cooked soup on March 19, is still hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the hospital in Camposampiero Friday. On Saturday March 22 he was treated with antibotulin serum.

(Thanks to Luca Bucchini for the story and translation.)