11 months ago
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FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - In June, Fresno County received two reports of botulism, an unwellness the CDC describes arsenic "rare but serious" caused by a toxin that attacks the body's nerves. If untreated, it tin pb to paralysis oregon death.
"This is the archetypal clip that we've had a food-born botulism case," Norma Sanchez with the Fresno County Health Department said connected Tuesday.
According to Sanchez, who has been with Fresno County for implicit 20 years, the 2 women who were diagnosed with botulism were primitively thought to person a elemental lawsuit of vertigo owed to the rarity of botulism.
The women attended a household enactment successful Clovis; aft a mates of days they began feeling sick and a abbreviated clip aboriginal they were some hospitalized. A full-scale probe past followed to get to find retired what caused it.
"As investigators, we were capable to spell retired and sojourn to interrogation our patients," Sanchez said. "We went retired and spoke to 1 of the husbands astatine the households wherever the enactment was held - biology wellness went done the trash."
Sanchez says investigators were acrophobic astir the cactus crockery astatine the party, though they had been told the crockery was frozen and not canned. Sanchez says she interviewed the cook, who admitted to canning the cactus.
"She was sad, she felt it was her fault," Sanchez said. "I had to explicate to her determination were a fig of ways it could've happened - she admitted to canning them successful May."
Sanchez says, aft the interrogation with the cook, she was impressed with the large lengths biology wellness officials went done to get samples of the cactus salad.
"The nutrient had been retired determination for a mates of days already - it was a 100 and thing degrees retired there," Sanchez said. "I was conscionable amazed astatine the results."
According to Sanchez, investigators recovered the canning process and unsafe retention of the cans were liable for the botulism cases. Investigators subsequently determined that the Fresno County Department of Public Health would not person to telephone for a wide callback of immoderate cactus connected store shelves, since the canning process was the origin of the botulism.
"We person nary caller cases arsenic of today," Sanchez said, "So we're hoping this is simply a last extremity to this investigation."
