A 44-year-old woman has died, and one other 117 people fell sick after eating a singular dish at a pizzeria.
Rayssa Maritein Bezerra e Silva and her boyfriend had a ‘carne de sol’ sun-dried beef pizza on the eatery in Pombal, Brazil, on Sunday, but quickly became unwell.
After returning home, they began to feel worse and went to the hospital, where they were treated and discharged.
Rayssa returned on Monday morning with diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain, and her condition deteriorated ‘rapidly’, the hospital said.
Hospital Regional de Pombal said: ‘She was promptly attended to by the medical team and transferred to the Intensive Care Unit in critical condition, showing signs consistent with a severe infection.’
She died within the hospital on Tuesday morning.
It later emerged that one other 117 people sought medical attention in Pombal after eating at the identical pizzeria on Sunday.
Their symptoms included nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and general malaise – all consistent with food poisoning.
Local health officials have since shut down the pizzeria after an inspection found insects, improperly stored food and other irregularities.
Two people remain within the hospital – an eight-year-old child and a lady.
Lab tests on ingredients from the pizzeria, in addition to on Rayssa’s body, will likely be carried out as a part of the police investigation.
Rayssa, an agronomist, worked for the local council’s environment department and had been dating her boyfriend for around a 12 months.
Her cousin, Izabele Freitas, said: ‘She was a cheerful, down-to-earth and warm person. She was fun to be around.’
She was laid to rest in Pombal today as her family called for justice.
In December, greater than 40 diners in Wales fell seriously sick after eating a pub’s Sunday lunch.
The Corner House Inn in Llangynwyd, Wales, temporarily shut its doors after Public Health Wales linked customers’ illnesses to meals served there.
While environmental health officers investigated the pub’s premises, the staff did an intensive deep clean and sanitisation.
Clostridium perfringens was identified because the reason for this illness. It’s a bacterium widespread in animals and the environment.
These bacteria can develop spores, which may survive cooking and grow during slow cooling and unrefrigerated storage. The spores could make you sick.
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