Public Health is investigating the poisoning of 14 people in Lanzarote with the salmonella typhimurium bacteria. According to reports from this department, which depends on the Canary Islands Ministry of Health, the cause could be found in a cheese made on the island. Health inspectors went to that cheese factory on February 5 and "cautiously" stopped both production and distribution.
Of the 14 people affected, only three have had to be admitted to the hospital. In all three cases, they are minors. Two of them have already been discharged and the third, a 17-year-old, remains hospitalized. According to the Ministry, this minor "is evolving favorably."
The Ministry of Health has not provided the name of the affected cheese factory, although they have stressed that, after carrying out an inspection, this stoppage was carried out in a "cautious" manner. According to them, laboratory results have confirmed the presence of this type of salmonella in the samples taken from those affected, but they remain waiting to obtain the results of the cultures carried out on the cheeses. Thus, from this department of the Government of the Canary Islands they explain that the "link" between the cheese factory and those affected is the "consumption" of the cheese.
The "trickle" of cases, they have specified, began in the last week of January, while the last admission was this Sunday, February 7. It was last Friday, the 5th, when the Lanzarote Health Area Directorate and the Epidemiology Service of the General Directorate of Public Health of the Government of the Canary Islands were informed of "the cases that had been appearing." This was indicated by the Ministry, stressing that the precautionary measures were taken "that same day."
