Food poisoning has sent at least 479 students at Cairo’s al-Azhar university to hospitals and sent hundreds of others into the streets to demand the resignation of the school’s president.
The outbreak is so politically charged that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi took a page out of the West’s political playbook by visiting one of the hospitals where the sickened students are being treated.
Egypt’s Health Ministry said that while hundreds were ill, there have been no deaths recorded among the patients. Those suffering from food poisoning were divided among several Cairo hospitals so they could receive medical attention more promptly. The Health Ministry said all the cases were stabilized.
“Basic hygiene standards are not always observed at Egyptian universities, but this incident is one of the largest cases of food poisoning in recent years,” said BBC, reporting from Cairo.
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