Bordeaux University Hospital, on September 6, reported the first case of botulism.

Botulism is an uncommon but serious food-borne illness caused by the consumption of ineffectively processed home-canned, preserved, or fermented foods.

The case was initially managed as a case of Guillain–Barré syndrome.

This patient needed mechanical ventilation due to respiratory muscle paralysis and also experienced severe symptoms like impaired swallowing and oculomotor palsy.

Two more patients with similar neuro-ophthalmic involvement needing ICU care were received at the hospital in the same week.

All three patients, upon investigation, were revealed to be visitors to France and had consumed canned sardines in the same restaurant in Bordeaux.

In total, this outbreak affected 15 people, all of whom reported eating sardines at the same restaurant.

Physicians all around France have been advised to check for botulism symptoms in patients who have recently visited Bordeaux.

France recorded 82 cases of foodborne botulism between 2008 and 2018, out of which 159 were classified as outbreaks. 

The highest number of individuals engaged in a single epidemic was six, making the current outbreak the biggest in the country.