Many people in Thai Binh were hospitalized due to suspected food poisoning after eating a feast.

On the afternoon of May 6, the Department of Food Safety and Hygiene of Thai Binh province (under the Department of Health of Thai Binh province) had initial information about the incident of many people being hospitalized due to suspected food poisoning that occurred in Hoang Dieu ward (Thai Binh city).

According to initial information, on May 1-2, at the family of Mr. H and Mrs. H (Group 5, Hoang Dieu Ward, Thai Binh City), a feast was held on the occasion of the family preparing for their child's wedding, with the main attendees being relatives. The lunch on May 1 had about 20 trays of food (120 people), the menu included dishes such as fried chicken, braised shrimp, pickled cucumber soup, goat blood pudding (goats were slaughtered in Ninh Binh and the blood and meat were transported to Thai Binh, the ingredients for making blood pudding were boiled pig ears, livers, and throats).

On the afternoon of May 1 and the morning of May 2, the family continued to organize a feast with a menu made from chicken, shrimp, pig's feet, goat, squid, cat meat, soft-shell turtle, beef ham, sticky rice with dried shrimp and sticky rice.

About 10 days before, Mr. T had a wound on his toe that was festering. At about 8:00 p.m. on May 4, Mr. T's condition worsened and he was transferred to Bach Mai Hospital. Mr. T later died at 4:00 a.m. on May 5 with a diagnosis of sepsis, severe pneumonia, complications of septic shock, multiple organ failure, circulatory arrest, and gout. According to a report from Thai Binh City Medical Center, Mr. T had a history of eating blood pudding at the above party.

After receiving the news of Mr. T's death, on the night of May 5 and the morning of May 6, many people who had eaten with Mr. T on May 1-2 went to the Emergency Department of Thai Binh Provincial General Hospital for examination. Of these, eight people had symptoms such as fever, digestive disorders, and abdominal pain and asked to be transferred to Bach Mai Hospital for monitoring and treatment; 10 people had mild symptoms such as headache, neck and shoulder pain, were hospitalized and monitored at the Infectious Diseases Department (Thai Binh Provincial General Hospital).

After admission, patients were sampled for testing.

As of 11:30 a.m. on May 6, these patients had no unusual symptoms, blood count and blood biochemistry tests showed normal results; awaiting blood culture results.

According to Dr. Phan Thi Yen, Department of Infectious Diseases (Thai Binh General Hospital), the common characteristics of the patients admitted to the hospital are that they ate the same meal and blood pudding.

As of the afternoon of May 6, the health of the 10 patients above is stable. Currently, the Department of Infectious Diseases is continuing to closely monitor the health of the patients to have timely treatment regimens.

Ms. Pham Thi My Hanh, Head of the Department of Food Safety and Hygiene of Thai Binh province, said that immediately after receiving the information, the Department sent officers to investigate the information and grasp the situation.

Currently, the Department is continuing to coordinate with Thai Binh City Medical Center and patient treatment units to investigate and verify specific information about this suspected food poisoning incident.

According to the update of the Thai Binh Province Food Safety and Hygiene Department, by the afternoon of May 6, 6/8 patients who requested to be transferred to Bach Mai Hospital had been discharged home, while the two patients, Mr. T's daughters-in-law, were still being monitored and treated. Currently, the health of these two patients is normal.