More than 650 people have fallen ill in France this past month after eating contaminated raw shellfish.
Since the start of December 2019, Santé publique France has received 123 reports of collective food poisoning suspected to be linked to consumption of raw shellfish, mainly oysters.
The majority, 87 of the 123 alerts, occurred from Dec. 23, 2019, and forward. A peak of illnesses hit from December 25 to 27.
A total of 668 people were sick and 17 needed hospital treatment. Most are more than 15 years old. Of the 415 patients with age information available, 15 were younger than 15.
Much higher than recent years
Symptoms, mainly diarrhea and vomiting, as well as incubation times, are consistent with norovirus or other enteric virus infections. Stool tests have confirmed the presence of these viruses. Symptoms of norovirus appear one to two days after being infected and typically last for two or three days.
FoodWorld 