13/08/2025
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Two separate outbreaks of botulism poisoning have been worrying Italy in recent weeks.
In Calabria, the most serious cluster has resulted in two deaths and 12 hospitalisations, while other botulism cases have been reported in Sardinia. All of these cases can be traced back to contaminated food, including industrial and household preserves.
Botulism is a rare but serious illness that can cause breathing problems, muscle paralysis, and death. People can get botulism by eating homemade foods that have not been properly canned, preserved, or fermented.
Sardinia’s outbreak, for example, has been linked to contaminated industrial sauce.
The outbreak in Calabria, which started between August 3 and 5 in Diamante in the Cosenza province, involved 18 people who ate sandwiches with sausage and turnip tops purchased from a street vendor. Two people died.
The Paola public prosecutor’s office is investigating nine potential suspects, including the vendor, three managers from the companies that made the contaminated food, and five doctors from two health facilities in the Cosenza area.
The alleged offences range from manslaughter to trading in harmful foodstuffs. The investigation is continuing; autopsies are planned and the food truck was seized for inspection.
Another 14 patients who were hospitalised are in stable condition. Six are in intensive care, with one patient already extubated and breathing independently, while three children are in paediatric care and five patients are in other wards.
The hospital has received several vials of botulinum toxin antidote, which is essential for the timely treatment of cases.
Diamante Mayor Achille Ordine called the illnesses ”circumscribed and limited”.
