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A 12-year-old girl died and at least 21 children were hospitalized after an E. coli outbreak that was likely caused by contaminated meat, prompting the closure of six butcher shops in France, officials said.
Signs of severe food poisoning, including bloody diarrhea, first emerged on June 12 near the city of Saint-Quentin in northern France.
In total, 22 children and one elderly person have been treated and 10 of the patients were still hospitalized as of Wednesday, according to officials in the Hauts-de-France region. The girl died on Monday, June 16.
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“I would like to express my deepest sympathy and solidarity with the family of the deceased girl,” Health Minister Yannick Neuder said in a post Sunday on X. “To her loved ones, I extend, on behalf of the French government, my most sincere thoughts.”
Initial tests determined the outbreak was caused by E. coli likely from meat consumption, he told Radio France Internationale (RFI).
Nine of the patients developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a rare condition caused by a certain type of E. coli bacteria, according to a news release from the local prefect’s office on Wednesday.
E. coli is a type of bacterium found in the environment, foods and intestines of people and animals, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
While most varieties of E. coli are harmless, some strains, which can be contracted through contaminated food and water, can cause severe cramps, diarrhea and vomiting.
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One serious strain is Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), which can lead to HUS, typically among children and the elderly, and cause kidney failure, permanent health problems — even death.
About eight in 10 children with HUS have a STEC infection, according to the CDC. There have been 1,624 HUS cases and 38 deaths from it in the U.S. in recent decades, according to the CDC’s most recent data, which spans from 1997 to 2021.
Some of the hospitalized patients in France received dialysis, which filters waste and excess fluid when the kidneys are not functioning.
“Once somebody has the symptoms of hemolytic uremic syndrome, there’s really no therapy other than supportive care,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, the chief of pediatric infectious disease at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “Antibiotics are not going to work. We don’t have an antidote.”
“The way to keep these outbreaks under wraps, or at least to halt the progression, is a robust public health system.”
Kahn, who is not involved in the care of the patients in France, called HUS a “nasty” disease and said he has seen children receive kidney transplants and come into renal failure as a result of it.
It has spread in the U.S. as a result of chopped meat and apple cider, he noted.
“The way to keep these outbreaks under wraps, or at least to halt the progression, is a robust public health system,” Kahn added. “The investigators are key.”
Investigations by several government offices into the origins of the outbreak in France are ongoing, according to the prefect’s office, and test samples from six Saint-Quentin-area butcher shops, which have been preemptively closed, are expected to open next week.
The poisoned individuals had eaten meat traced back to the six shops, according to preliminary investigations.
“As part of these investigations, all leads are being explored, analyzed and reported back to ensure that no possible source of contamination is ruled out,” the prefect’s office stated.
Neuder urged people not to panic.
“The idea is not to cause panic,” he told RFI. “It is still possible to eat meat.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the health minister’s office for comment.
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Officials reminded residents that symptoms linked to E. coli can appear within 10 days of eating contaminated food. They cautioned that meat from some of the butchers had been served at two sporting events and a school fair as recently as June 22.
They additionally warned people not to consume meat bought from those butchers after June 1, to clean their refrigerators thoroughly if they have purchased any and to prevent transmission by handwashing.
“The good news is, there’s a lot we can do in the kitchen to help prevent E. coli infections and lower the risk of HUS,” Jessica Gavin, a certified food and culinary scientist from California, told Fox News Digital.
“I always make sure to cook meat, especially ground beef and poultry, to at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit, wash my hands well after handling raw ingredients and keep raw and cooked foods separate to avoid cross-contamination.”
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